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Release/All

From LOTRO Lorebook

Player Entry

The following is a list of all published LOTRO changelogs since the game officially launched in May, 2007. The most recent changes are listed first.

Contents

[edit] Book 14

Visit the original Turbine-released version of the Book 14 Release Notes

LOTRO - Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion

This patch went live on 22 July, 2008.

From the Release Notes
Welcome to the latest free content update for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar! Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion brings a wide array of changes to LOTRO, including the addition of Eregion, the continuation of the epic questline, and preparations for Moria! The team has also been hard at work adding even more player-requested features to the game!

Highlights:

  • Eregion: Journey to where the Elven Rings were forged!
  • Epic Quest: The epic quest continues with world events that open up the adventure to every player across all servers!
  • Moria Prelude Quests: Aid the Fellowship of the Ring as they prepare to leave Rivendell and make their way toward Mordor.
  • Dungeons: The loot dropped in all instances and raids is being upgraded, and bosses and mobs are being adjusted to make for even better play experiences! Now is the time to prepare for the dangers that dwell in Moria!
  • Animation Improvements: LOTRO continues to polish the experience!
    • Animations and sounds for each Minstrel skill using their equipped instrument (no longer just the Lute!)
    • Monster play emote animations for Orc, Uruk, Spider and Warg
    • New animations for 12 emotes – plus three new animated emotes!

Of Special Note:

  • Monster Play - New racial specific emotes for Monster Player characters are now available!
    • Spiders now have animations for the following emotes: agree, bother, bow, calm, cheer, dance1, laugh, salute, no, yes, and talk.
    • Wargs now have animations for the following emotes: agree, bother, bow, calm, dance1, laugh, rude, salute, scratch, no, yell, yes, and talk.
    • Urukhai now have animations for the following emotes: agree, bother, bow, calm, charge, cheer, dance1, flex, laugh, pose, rude, salute, shrug, no, yes, and talk.
    • Orcs now have animations for the following emotes: agree, bother, bow, calm, cheer, dance1, flex, laugh, pose, rude, salute, scratch, shrug, no, yes, and talk.
  • New collection-based fishing deeds are here! Be sure to catch'em all!
  • The Dressing Room UI now supports dye color previewing! You can alter the color of any visible equipment slot to preview how you will look once you've applied Dye items to your gear.
  • New dyes for clothing available: Orange, Grey, Burgundy, and Turquoise!

Gameplay

  • There is now an effect iconic representing the period of time that characters are in the recovering state after exiting a negative combat state.
  • Auto-attack will be disabled automatically if you select a new opponent while in combat which is in a state that you might break, e.g. Loremaster's "Blinding Flash" or a Hunter trap.
  • You will now see "INTERRUPTED" over the head of the target of any attack which interrupts a skill warm-up or channeled skill that is in progress.

Skills/Classes

Burglar

  • Targets of "Share The Fun" now have an effect icon on them. No gameplay change.
  • The Damage over Time aspect of "Well Placed Strike" will now stack with other Burglars.
  • "Find Footing" was erroneously removing all combat states, not just the listed ones: Daze, Stun and Knocked down. It now properly only removes, and can only be used during those states.
  • "Find Footing" no longer removes Dread Stun.
  • Caltrops slow effect now properly has the same duration as the bleed, 30 seconds. Tooltips have been updated.

Captain

  • The Captain's Dwarf Heralds now run as fast as the other Herald types. We swear we didn’t do that one on purpose!
  • The Captain's Rift armour set no longer suppresses bonuses from other items granting additional shadow mitigation, like Helegrod pots.
  • The Frozen Commoner Herald Armaments will now change the appearance of the Captain's Herald to a Lossoth Herald.
  • The Captain trait "Defy Corruption" will now grant temporarily increased ability scores to any fellowship member revived by the Captain's "Escape from Darkness" skill.
  • Captain Skill changes:
    • "Pressing Attack" now will hit 2 targets in front of the Captain.
    • "Devastating Blow" has a minor increase in damage.
    • "Strength of Will" now has more appropriate animations and special effects.
    • "Withdraw" visual effects will now play correctly.
    • "Cutting Attack" now does somewhat less initial damage but the bleeding damage as been greatly increased.
    • "Noble Mark" has greatly increased in damage.
  • Captains using their Rallying Horn will now actually blow a horn to summon their fellows.
  • Fixed a problem with Pressing Attack dealing erroneously low damage on critical hits.
  • Fixed the Captain’s banners following the player.
  • Fixed the Captain companion skill "Lend Will."

Guardian

Hunter

  • Hunters may now use Crossbows starting at Level 7!
  • Hunters using "Scourging Blow" were removing all Barbed Arrow bleeds on their targets. Now, a Hunter’s Scourging Blow will only interact with and remove the Barbed Arrow Bleed applied by that Hunter.
  • Backgrounds added to bow chants’ effect icons.
  • The tooltip for Endurance Stance has been updated to accurately reflect that it makes "Quick Shot" into a detaunt, not just a no-taunt skill. There has been no gameplay change.

Lore-master

  • The Lore-master Beast-lore deed has been updated to match the skill it needs to have used.

Minstrel

  • The instrument you have in the ranged slot will now modify the look and sound of your skills based on what instrument is used.
  • Minstrel Tale skills will again show how much they buff by when mousing over.

Monster Play

Diminishing Returns

  • Root and daze effects will now share diminishing returns. This means that dazes and roots will be considered the same effect in terms of consecutive applications for diminishing returns. As an example: When a player dazes another player, then roots him, the root will be considered the second application in terms of diminishing returns.
  • The new root/daze diminishing return duration progression for each application of root/daze is as follows:
    • First application = 50% of the root/daze's duration
    • Second application = 25% of the root/daze's duration
    • Third - Ninth applications = 5% of the root/daze's duration
    • After the 10th application, the root/daze will no longer affect the target
  • Diminishing return durations for stun effects have been reduced to address issues with crowd control in PvMP combat. The duration progression for each application of stun is as follows:
    • First application = 100% of the stun's duration
    • Second application = 50% of the stun's duration
    • Fourth - Ninth applications = 1 second stun duration
    • After the 10th application, the root/daze will no longer affect the target.
  • Diminishing return durations for fear effects have been reduced to address issues with crowd control in PvMP combat. The duration progression for each application of fear is as follows:
    • First application = 100% of the fear's duration
    • Second application = 50% of the fear's duration
    • Fourth - Ninth applications applications = 1 second fear duration
    • After the 10th application, the root/daze will no longer affect the target

General

  • The Renown and Infamy meters now have tooltips that spell out your current progress in achieving the next available rank.
  • In monster play, various instances of the word "Fellowship" for grouping should now be replaced with "Group."
  • The output menu or filter menu for the chat window will no longer display Tribe as an option for players or Kinship as an option for monster players.
  • Monster players will now see an appropriate stack icon in the vendor UI when they choose to buy items in stacks.
  • The dressing room now uses your main inventory appearance while in the Ettenmoors.
  • The group chat for Monster players is now labeled "Group" appropriately instead of "Fellowship." Also, Monster players can now use "/g" to talk in the group channel as well as "/f."
  • Monster players can no longer get kinship titles when they are not supposed to.
  • Icons for rank restricted items will now update usability state immediately upon your character reaching the appropriate rank.
  • The three reward containers in Glân Vraig have been updated slightly to give out more money. The Second Chest of the Marshal will now reward around 25-silver. The First Chest of the Marshal will reward around 45-silver. Chest of the Glain Vraig will reward more than 200-silver.
  • Tirith Rhaw now takes 20 seconds to flip sides after beating the boss. This should prevent a fringe case where Goldhead would maul freep guards. He will now complete his actions and disappear once the boss of Tirith Rhaw is defeated.
  • The "Little Folk Harvesters" quest will now fail if the freeps lose control of the Lumber Yard.
  • The Quartermaster will now sell a greater variety of health and power potions to Monster Players. The new potions are: Lesser Stinking Poultice, Refined Stinking Poultice, Pure Stinking Poultice, Lesser Bubbling Potion, Refined Bubbling Potion, and Pure Bubbling Potion.
  • Orcs no longer speak when using maps.
  • All appearance traits have been renamed. Additionally, appearance trait tooltips will include a detailed description of what the appearance for the monster player character will look like.
  • Newly created monster player characters will now begin the game with a Crude Map to Gramsfoot. This map has a 60 minute cooldown.
  • The Lainedhal's Insignias will now display an effect icon for the duration of the immunity when the item is used.
  • The "Lost Fellowship" quest rewards will no longer share a cooldown with disease/wound/fear/poison potions.
  • Fixed a bug where disarm was not properly disarming monster players.
  • The main inventory's slot toggles will now be used instead of the selected outfit's toggles while in the Ettenmoors.
  • Trolls and Rangers can no longer be revived.

Blackarrow

  • The root from the traited version of "Hindering Shot" will now obey diminishing returns.

Weaver

  • The Spider racial skill "Born of Shadow" will now do more damage to attackers when this skill is active.
  • Spider skills will now be properly affected by the increased damage corruptions.
  • The Spider Weaver's hatchlings should now behave more aggressively to targets near the Spider and to targets who have been attacked by the Spider. Please note that rooted targets will still be ignored by the hatchlings - this is a side effect of the aggressive pet stance used by all pet types.
  • The Spider Weaver's "Snaring Web" (and traited version) will now have a 30 second duration.
  • The Spider Weaver's "Poison Spray" skill has had its frontal arc increased from 90 degrees to 120 degrees.
  • Fixed an issue where the slow effect from "Web the Earth" was improperly removed after an affected character left the webbed area. This duration-based slow will now be applied when a character enters the webbed area and will remove after the duration of the effect expires.
  • The "Lie In Wait" skill for Spider Weavers has been updated. The skill will now apply an aura around the Spider that will root enemy players who trespass near the Spider's burrow. This root will continually apply (with diminishing returns) until the Spider comes out of the burrow.
  • The debuffs from "Entangling Web" and "Clinging Webs" can now both be applied on the same target.
  • The trait for "Piercing Attack" will now properly increase the damage-over-time portion of the skill.

Warleader

  • The Warleader's "Banner of Command" aura will no longer overwrite the Spider Weaver's "Born of Shadow" aura.
  • The Warleader's skill "On Your Feet!" will now revive Monster Players outside of the Warleader's group (if they are within range of the skill).

Stalker

  • Wargs will perform a howl when using the "mourn," "roar," and "yawn" emotes.

Reaver/Defiler

  • The Orc racial skill "Blood of Fire" will now do more damage to attackers when this skill is active.
  • The Orc racial skill "Dying Rage" can now be triggered when the Orc reaches 25% health. Additionally, cooldown timers for some damage skills are reset.

Session Play

  • (Troll Session Play) The "Crush" skill can no longer be performed while moving.
  • Ranger session play: The text on the Recovery of Tol Ascarnen deed has been made to be consistent with the others.
  • Session play Troll Crushers and Rangers can no longer flip hot spots.

Crafting

General

Cook

  • Reduced the cost to produce many cooking goods by re-working required ingredients for many cooking recipes. Additionally, crafting experience rewards for many cooking recipes have been increased.
  • The optional ingredient used by the Apprentice Cooking recipe, "Campfire Materials" has been changed from "Dirty Shrew Claw" to "Torn Claw."
  • Corrected required ingredients for the Artisan Cooking Recipe, "Golden Mullet Chowder." This recipe now requires a "Large Bottle of Milk," which can be purchased from any expert cooking vendor.
  • The Master Cooking recipes, "Flounder with Bacon," "Baked Flounder," and "Flounder Fillet" were incorrectly listed in the Crafting UI panel as "Trail Food" recipes. This has been fixed so these recipes will now correctly display under the "Cooked Food" recipe category.

Farmer

  • New farming recipes are available from Novice and Expert farmhands! Farmers now have new crop options to add some variety to their harvest yields. All of the new farming field recipes have the potential to produce rare ingredients useful to Scholars in the production of new dyes, and wall paints for player housing!

Jeweller

  • The Master Jeweller recipe "Polished Beryl" previously required two beryl gems. This recipe now requires one beryl gem.
  • Jewellery scroll cases no longer give out Lore-master amulet recipes.

Metalsmith

  • Critical success crafted Burglar tools are now known as Implements. There is no gameplay change.
  • Master Metalsmith tool recipes (total of eighteen recipes) have been re-added to levels 47-50 treasure profiles.

Prospector

  • Updates to Prospecting recipes. Note that refining recipes have had their craft experience rewards reduced to compensate for this change.
    • Smelting recipes: All smelting recipes now consistently require 2 pieces of ore to make 1 ingot.
    • Refining recipes: All refining recipes now require either a) 1 ingot & coal, or b) 1 ingot & 1 ingot.
  • Corrected grammatical issue for all variations of "Prospector's Tools." Game messages referring to these tools (such as when the durability is low) should now use proper grammar.

Scholar

  • New Scholar reputation recipes are available from the Elves of Rivendell reward vendor! These recipes allow Scholars to use knowledge gained from ancient texts like the Torn Scholar's Journal to produce multiple Essence of Athelas and Celebrant Salve potions.
  • More new Scholar reputation recipes are available from the Elves of Rivendell reward vendor! These recipes allow scholars to create master-level Improved Battle Lore / Improved Warding lore scrolls.
    • Scroll of Improved Battle Lore
    • Scroll of Improved Warding Lore
    • Single-use recipes for the Scholar profession are now available in loot! These recipes allows Scholars to make "Crafting Journals" for the following professions: Jeweller, Metalworker, Tailor, Weaponsmith, and Woodworker. The journals can be used as optional ingredients in single-use recipes for the five professions, allowing crafters to gain a significant increase in the critical chance for these recipes.
  • New dye and wall paint recipes have arrived! Scholars should keep an eye out for ten new dye and wall paint recipes that can now be found in treasure.
  • Reduced the coin value of the following items: Fire-oil, Refined Fire-oil, Light-oil, Refined Light-oil.

Tailor

  • Changed display names of Bree-land style medium footwear items to "shoes." Also changed the icons for these items to use a 'shoes' icon (instead of the 'boots' icon).
  • Corrected the names of two Journeyman Tailoring recipes:
  • Linen Cloak Recipe (was previously called "Fine Linen Cloak Recipe")
  • Linen Robe Recipe (was previously called "Fine Linen Robe Recipe")
  • Slightly increased stats for the Journeyman Tailoring light armor items, "Pliant Linen Robe" and "Pliant Linen Cloak."

Woodworker/Forester

  • 1-handed and 2-handed club recipes have arrived for Woodworking! Recipes for all tiers, including those that are auto-granted, sold by vendors, or found in treasure are now available.
  • Rebalanced the quantities of treated wood used for many Woodworking recipes. In general, woodworking component and weapon recipes should now require less treated wood than previously.
  • Replaced the "woodchopping" animation with a new "hide tanning" animation for all of the Forester profession's treated hide recipes.

Fishing

  • The "50-pound Salmon" is now Bind on Acquire.
  • Fixed plural display names for: Perch, Perfect Perch, Dace, Delightful Dace
  • Added "This fish can be used in Cooking." to the descriptions of the following fish: Dace, Catfish, Perch, Golden Mullet, Flounder, Largemouth Bass
  • Fixed a typo in the description of "Three-Spined Stickleback"
  • Corrected problems with plural names (i.e., two or more items stacked) for some types of Salmon.
  • Crafted fishing poles were previously not set to "Bind on Equip." This has now been fixed, and all crafted fishing poles will now bind to the player upon equipping.
  • Rare fish (the type that can be bartered to the fishing taxidermist for trophies) were incorrectly displaying a value even though they could not be sold to vendors. This has been fixed and now rare fish will no longer display a value on their tooltips.
  • Fixed issue with bait using the wrong effect icon on use. Using bait will now properly use the "bait" effect icon.
  • Fishing Poles now hide when using the Map Home.
  • You can no longer perform inappropriate tasks while fishing, such as mapping home.
  • You can no longer turn while fishing.
  • The meter on the hobby panel will now reliably turn yellow when you've reached your daily fishing quota.
  • Fishing will cap on the first day after 10 skill-ups (at a skill of 11) instead of allowing 11 skill-ups the first day.

Items/Loot

Armour

  • Corrected issues with Elrond's Exquisite Cloak and Elrond's Radiant Cloak - both of these items should now have the proper icons.
  • The Minstrel set chest piece "Wandering Bard's Robe" was using an incorrect icon. This item is now correctly using a robe icon.
  • "Calenglad's Shield" has been adjusted in scale so it no longer clips into the avatar's hand.
  • The Annúminas armour sets have been given a fairly substantial upgrade. Light and Medium Annúminas sets now have an optional item that can be used to complete the set.
  • All of the Annúminas sets are now Bind-On-Acquire and Unique.
  • Annúminas Armour Set Upgrade: 1% Incoming Healing on the Heavy Gauntlets has been replaced with +15 Vitality.
  • The Thrill-seeker's Armour set had a typo for the 6th bonus: There is no Burglar skill named "Cunning Strike". The bonus is applied to the Cunning Attack skill.
  • Shoulders of Gondolin have been renamed to resolve a naming conflict. The shoulders have also seen a slight increase in power.
  • "Bronweringor" has been updated by removing the poison resistance and adding vitality.
  • "Stórskold" had been changed: Out of combat power regen has been replaced with an in-combat power regen.
  • "Wig-feld" is now bind on acquire.

Weapons

  • "Orc-bane" has been updated to use the correct two-handed artwork.
  • The staff "Noris" has been updated to allow critical heals on your pet.
  • The halberd "Steadfast" has been updated by fixing its description and adding additional enchantments to it.
  • "Torchathol" has been upgraded. An in-combat power-regen has been added to the item's usage skill.
  • Will and Agility on Saellang have been reduced as they were originally set too high for a single-handed weapon.

Deeds

  • Chicken play: As soon as you become a chicken we now reveal the exploration deeds to you. This means those deeds have been versioned. If you are midway on one when Book 14 goes live you will have to restart the quest.
  • The Forochel Angmarim-Slayer deed was rewarding the player with the same title as the Helegrod Angmarim Emblem collection quest. The Forochel title has been renamed from Enemy of Angmar to Angmar's Bane.
  • Snowbeasts in Sarnúr will now count towards the Master of Beasts deed in Ered-Luin.

User Interface

General

  • When dyeing currently equipped clothing, the avatar image in the character journal is now immediately updated.
  • Dyes will no longer display a pattern type in their tooltip if they use the "Default" pattern.
  • More items should update their usability state correctly when in a quickslot.
  • The scrollbar for Barter NPCs should be reset each time they are used.
  • Using quickslots for items that exist in multiple inventory stacks is now more reliable. The quickslot should continue to function when the first stack is consumed.
  • Fixed a bug which was preventing armor drops and common quality quest rewards from having random dye colors applied to them.
  • The tool-tip information on bows has been updated to better reflect the function of the +1 Critical-hit bonus - as this applies only to ranged auto-attacks. The function has not changed, but the tool-tip text has been clarified.
  • The "Are you sure?" prompt when you click to dismount your horse will now ask if you are sure you want to dismount, rather than abandon.
  • The Braziers in Fornost now show a hand usage icon instead of a door.
  • Target of selection vitals update properly with color now.
  • There are new progress bars while riding a mount and while playing music.
  • Fixed some quests that were not showing comment rings correctly.
  • The raid filter on the quest journal now works correctly.
  • Clicking on the ring on the quest tracker to open the quest journal to the correct quest now always expands the journal to show the selected quest.
  • Repeatable quests can now be shared with someone who has already completed the quest, as long as they would otherwise be able to pick up the quest again from the NPC. The fellowship Shared Quest filter will now filter out quests that your fellows don't have.
  • The Titles tab in the character journal can no longer be accessed by session players since they cannot gain titles.
  • The right-click context menu on the social UI now disappears when you select a different player or tab.
  • The UI scaling of your fellowship and raid group 1's vitals are now restored properly when you join a group.
  • The little green checkmark indicating that your fellow is ready to turn in a quest should appear more reliably.
  • Crafting Nodes now clearly state their specific Craft Proficiency Requirements.

Maps/Radar

  • Camp-site map notes will now be displayed correctly when looking at maps.
  • Green map-note icons for your fellowship will now display on maps, even if the fog-of-war hasn't been lifted.
  • Ost Alagos now has a POI mapnote.
  • Tom Bombadil's House, if already discovered, will now be displayed when viewing the 'Old Forest' map

Chat UI

  • You can now Ctrl+right-click on many of the item icons in the game to create an item link in your chat window instead of dragging them to the text entry field. This includes item icons in the Auction house, crafting panel, quest rewards, vendors / barter NPCs, and so on. You can also re-map this command, "Item Link To Chat", in the Key Mapping section of the Options Panel.
  • The "Death" chat filter has been renamed to the "Combat Event" chat filter.
  • Added a new option to enable notification of when someone nearby breaks the rooted, dazed or feared state of an opponent by attacking or damaging them. You will find this option in the Combat Options tab of the Options panel. The notices are displayed under the "Combat Event" chat filter.
  • The chat channel strings for the "Looking for Fellowship" chat channels have been updated to read "LFF". "/LFF" is still the command to speak to these channels.

Fellowships/Raids

  • Added 3 more looting options: Roll/Pass with Free For All, Need/Greed with Free For All, and Master Looter with Free For All. If the item is below the current threshold, any person in the group can pick it up. If the item is at or above the threshold then the Loot Policy will be in effect for the item (Roll/Pass, Need/Greed, Master Looter). In addition, for all landscape chests the first player to open the chest will always be able to loot the items below the threshold. All items at or above the threshold will follow the normal Loot Policy.
  • When you have someone targeted and they enter your fellowship, their floaty name and the name above the target vitals UI will change colors appropriately.
  • When you are too far away to do a fellowship manoeuvre contribution it will now be clear on the UI that you cannot use that contribution as is.
  • You are now informed that a player is not ready to be invited into a fellowship if they are in a loading state.
  • Talking in the "Raid" channel using "/ra" will now automatically switch the default output channel of your active chat tab to "Raid".
  • Players will now see the effect status of all members of a Raid.
  • Fixed a bug that was sometimes preventing companion effects from applying to the correct group when the master changed Fellowships within a Raid.
  • The Join button on the Open Fellowship UI is now grayed out if you're the group leader. The default sort is now indicated by the appropriate sort arrow when the Open Fellowship UI is first opened.

Reputation System

  • The 5 Thorin's Hall reputation "Dwarf-make" weapons have had their stats and required level increased to be more in line with the challenge level of that faction.
  • Faction names will now be displayed on the appropriate NPCs and will change color depending on your current standing with that faction.
  • Items that require specific reputation levels will now update their overlays when your reputation levels change (e.g. - when you become able to use the items, they will not keep the red outline around them).
  • You now get a more accurate error message when you try to barter a reputation item that you have not unlocked via a reputation quest.
  • Increasing your standing within a specific faction should result in immediate quest ring updates with every tier acquired.
  • The vendor Rusu's title is now "Lossoth Supplier" to indicate she is involved with Reputation items.
  • Rep Vendor Duthi in Thorin’s Hall will no longer turn towards you when you speak to him.
  • Reputation horses and ponies can now be exchanged if you select the wrong one.
  • The reputation vendors in Forochel have had the word "Lossoth" added to their titles.
  • The gatekeepers for Urugarth and Carn Dûm will now increase faction with the Council of the North.

Kinships/Tribes

  • Hobbit-themed kinship officers are no longer leaders, they are now Voluntary Assistant Chiefs.

Housing

  • If you try to use an item that needs to be in a housing hook to work without putting it in a hook, you will now get an appropriate error message.
  • The housing "For Sale" signs will now use the vendor mouse icon when you mouse over them.
  • The housing For Sale UI will now always display the coin costs for all coin types.
  • Added a new music jukebox for player housing.
  • Housing Hooks will now be brighter when they are selected so you can more easily tell which hook you have selected.

Pets/Companions

  • Fixed an issue with companions returning to their master when mez is broken.
  • Smoothed out Companion following.
  • Fixed a bug that was preventing companion effects from applying to the correct group when the master changed Fellowships within a Raid.

Emotes

  • We’ve added three new emotes and added animations to a few existing emotes!
    • Burp
    • Charge
    • Chuckle – new!
    • Clap
    • Congratulate
    • Fidget
    • Hail – new!
    • Poke
    • Shiver
    • Slap
    • Think
    • Whippitydo – new!!
    • Wince
    • Yawn
    • Ahem

World

  • Fixed various terrain seams, floaty objects, and pathing problems in Forochel, Angmar, Sarnúr, and the North Downs.
  • Apparently the Angmarim got the wrong idea about catching swordfish. They have therefore decided to eschew their weapons in favor of fishing poles and pickaxes while attempting to ice-fish in Forochel's Ice Bay area.
  • Changed Forochel's defeat dread to coincide with similar high level zones.
  • Fixed the hunter campfire in the North Downs near Rhunenlad to properly appear on the minimap.
  • Goblin-town: Made a door you couldn't get to not useable.
  • In Bree-town, Dob Sandheaver and Seward Proudfoot have been moved slightly so their ring mapnotes won't hide behind the one for the milestone.
  • The female Enforcer in Ost Forod now displays she is with the Free People.
  • The Icereave Mines are now a bit more solo-friendly; we removed a few patrollers, broke up some of the pulls, and spread them out a bit more.
  • Fixed a stuck location in the Thrang encounter in the Rift.
  • Fixed various pathing issues in Angmar
  • Rona in Aughaire will now speak to you differently if you have completed Tasgall's quest arc.
  • There are no longer two Ilmas in Forochel, and Mirja has returned.
  • Decreased the amount of time you need to stand near a Campfire to dispel Forochel cold effects.
  • Doubled the duration of the "Warding Warmth" buff players receive from steam vents in Forochel.

Town Services

Auction House

  • You can now drag items from your inventory into the "Item Name" field of the "Auctions" tab on the Auction UI to populate it with the name of that item.
  • We've added a barter auction category for finding auctionable barter items.

Graphics/Animation/FX/Art

  • DX10 Distant Landscape Lighting has been disabled. It will return in a future update.
  • The guard in Nellie Boskins' house in Trestlebridge is no longer giving himself an appendectomy.
  • Fixed incorrect icon issues for "Elven Prospector's Pack," "Fine Woodcutter's Pack," and "Finely Stitched Backpack."
  • Fixed a bug that was causing crafted staff weapons to be wielded incorrectly in combat. Staff combat animations when wielding only a staff should appear correctly now.
  • Melee weapons will now properly hide when a character uses throwing axes.
  • Horses and Ponies now have walking animations.
  • The hobbit near a campfire in Waymeet no longer slides around.
  • Book 9, Chapter 5 - The Rangers will use the correct combination of weapons and animations.
  • Dwarf Miners in Forochel who are mining are holding pickaxes now.
  • Fixed a Guard NPC in Archet whose feet were sliding.
  • In the Helegrod Treasury, the Angmarim High-Priests will stop playing fx when they die.
  • In Book 3 Chapter 4, Dori no longer uses a shield while tied up.
  • The Goblin Cauldrons in the Misty Mountains will no longer use the "door" usage action symbol.
  • Several Annúminas Dúnedain will no longer be impaling themselves on their shields.
  • Fixed a sledder in Forochel who wouldn't stay on his sled.
  • Barter NPCs in Iorelen's Camp now have blue portrait borders.
  • Hunter's Strong Traps will now have visual effect on monsters that they trap.
  • The Captain skill "To Arms" now has more appropriate FX
  • Corrected visual effects when Lore-masters with Sword and Staff cast any Sign of Power.
  • Lore-master skills "Light of the Rising Dawn" and "Cracked Earth" - Fixed a rare error that left a book stuck in the Lore-master's hand when the skill failed to execute completely.
  • The icon for the "Gates of Carn Dûm Key" will now look like a key.
  • Galiana Squibb will no longer turn to face you when you speak to her.

Mobs

  • The Rare War Mammoth of Forochel, Torahammas, should now be spawning correctly.
  • Aurochs in Forochel will now deal frost damage.
  • The rare yetis in Forochel are now elites
  • Angmarim in Forochel are no longer fishing with swords and crossbows.
  • Fëoc in Forochel will now respawn at the standard quest monster landscape speed.
  • Silvan Thirty-Point has a more reasonable respawn rate.
  • Brychan the Bald in Evendim is no longer right next to a guard's patrol route.
  • Elite Angmarin Lookouts in Annúminas have been renamed to "Elder Angmarim Lookout" to avoid confusion with their Signature brethren.
  • Oghûk the Hooligan in Goblin-town will no longer be holding a bomb while locked up. We can all sleep a little easier now (and so can he).
  • In Carn Dûm, Gúrthul will always start his fight with his drama.
  • Goblin-town: The sleeping goblin who was using a burning pot for a pillow has been given mercy. He will no longer hold the pot while sleeping.
  • Fixed a monster in the Great Goblin’s Den who wouldn't do anything.
  • Certain Elites managed to sneak into the Angmar landscape spawns, but they are now appropriately Normals.
  • Threatening animals woken from sleep will no longer fall back asleep before attacking.
  • All creatures that "threaten to attack" will once again paw the ground, roar or make other various threatening moves when players approach.
  • Angmarim snipers have given in to peer pressure and have stopped wearing their Forochel jammies.
  • The Óleif twins have resolved their dual identity crisis by having their leatherworking member take on a new name, "Fieló." Now when one gets in trouble, the other feels pain! (points for spotting the reference) (extra points for a youtube sample) kgo
  • In the interest of peace and mammoth-hood, all mammoths will cast aside their anti-social ways and unite under a banner of fur and friendship. The Straight Dope: Mammoths will now respond to calls for help from fellow mammoths.
  • Begin conversation overheard at Powerthirst corporate headquarters
    "Hey, Max Power, great work on the Carn Dum account!"
    'Thanks, Mr. Steele.'
    "Please, call me Trent. But you've got to tell me: how'd you do it? I mean 50,000 cases every month is unheard of!"
    'I think I was just in the right place at the right time. I was about to leave the Castle of the Witch King when I happened to bump into a gentleman named Târlug. He had just finished one of his workouts and seemed real low on Power, so I gave him a few dozen sample cans of Powerthirst. Needless to say, once he tasted the GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF POWER he was hooked.'
    The Straight Dope: Carn Dum: Tarlug's skills now use less power.
  • The Wolf Totems of the Gauredain now have significantly fewer hitpoints.
  • Barrow-candles' auras no longer affect monsters. (Known Issue: Player pets will also not be affected.)
  • The Angmarim Lookouts in Annúminas will now pursue players if they are out of range.

Miscellaneous

  • "Hey man, how was your weekend?"
    'Not good dude, not good.'
    "Why's that?"
    'I drank waaaay too much triple strength brandy...'
    "Where did you get triple strength brandy?!"
    'A friend of mine threw a party and brought his Inn League Keg.'
    "Sounds like a great party then! What happened?"
    'Wish I could remember, but I blacked out and ended up... well, I really have no idea how I got there, but I think my butt has frostbite.'
    The Straight Dope: New location added to the Inn League Keg!
  • Resolved a client hang involving chat window cursor movement near item text tags.
  • Fixed the '/reclaim' command timer so it will count down while the player is logged out. All outstanding '/reclaim' timers have also been reset as part of this fix.
  • Fixed a rare issue that could cause a rented mount to be player-controllable, but would also prevent dismounting.
  • The Usage distance on the Guaradan traps in Forchel has been increased.

Quests

  • The height requirement for the summer festival horse race has been lowered to allow dwarves and hobbits to complete this quest.
  • Many raid quests will now display as raids in the Quest Journal .
  • Fixed a typo in the quest log text for Book 12, Chapter 7.
  • The "Save Arifael" quest is now under the TrollShaws region, and will show as needing a raid group.
  • The Tarnished Bracelet quest arc has been reworked. It now goes: The Tarnished Bracelet, My Heart's Hope, End the Nightmare. If you find Dirdre in the field you may rescue her; however, successfully doing so will not allow you to take The Tarnished Bracelet or My Heart's Hope quests, as you have completed the arc.
  • In the "Worm-hide" quest, we’ve updated the text to indicate flame-worm hides, not fire-worm hides.
  • In the "Claws of the Earth" quest, the text has been updated to indicate the items come from Blade-beak Ravagers and not Hill-claws.
  • The quests "A Fistful of Flowers" can now be cancelled.
  • The quest items from "Threat from the South" will now delete upon finishing the quest.
  • The "[[Quest::In the Dark Clefts|:In the Dark Clefts]]" description has been updated to include the directions the questgiver states.
  • The coal lumps for the "Beacon in the Snow" quest have had their icon updated.
  • The quest objective in "The Raven" now states to "Find and rescue Cenlieg's raven," and the quest now displays billboard text identifying when the raven is safe. Also, the Raven is now not aggressive.
  • In "Heritage Restored," the skull will now display correctly while being carried.
  • "Old Forest Investigation" no longer recommends you need a group.
  • If you got "A Villain Unveiled" while it was shareable, it will now tell you to get the sword if you need to, rather than just telling you to talk to Eimyr.
  • The reset mechanics for the drake and arena fight in Urugarth have been tightened.
  • "The Root of the Problem" quest now contains more guidance as to where to find Ringdagnir.
  • The "Threat from the South" weapons will now delete from your inventory when you finish the quest. In order to do this, this quest has been versioned; if you had the quest underway when Book 14 went live, you’ll need to speak to the bestower again.
  • The "Cat-Tusk Scrimshaw" quest now has completing "Ice at the Water's Edge" as a bestowal requirement.
  • The "Time for a New Shield" quest has had its directions cleaned up.
  • In "Resupplying the Beacon," the induction will now state Placing instead of Picking Up.
  • In Carn Dûm, Erscin will now disappear once he has been escorted to safety.
  • Book XIII The quest now directs you to the southeast instead of the south.
  • Billboard messages in "Rank and File" update as you replace the banners.
  • In "Bounty of the Sea," fish are now present at areas you can fish for in this quest.
  • "Keeping the Norsu Pure" has had its directions made more accurate.
  • The Dwarf Housing Deco Vendor has been renamed from Dusi to Rambi. The dwarf housing decoration quest has been updated to reference the new name.
  • The "New Shield" quest has billboards for picking up the items now.
  • In "Under Attack," the induction while using the Broken Supplies is now "Examining" and the quest directions have been cleaned up.
  • Each slave in Carn Dûm may only be saved by 1 person.
  • In "The Choicest Cut," the Cut of Meat will no longer disappear until you have completed the quest. In order to accomplish this, this quest has been versioned. If you had it underway when Book 14 went live you will need to speak to the bestower again.
  • The chest you need to use in "Treasures from the Fields" will now glow.
  • Book 5 Chapter 3: The cornerstone will glow. This required the quest to be versioned, so if you had it underway when Book 14 went live you’ll need to start it again.
  • In "Driving the Beasts Out," the totem can now only be used in the proximity of the required warg.
  • "A Midwinter's Thaw" now has text that updates you when the invitation has been delivered.
  • War-master Uzorr's plans won't disappear when used. This required the quest to be versioned. If you had it underway when Book 14 went live, speak to the bestower again to restart it.
  • Niko will have comments for you while you are on his quests.
  • In "Candac's Obligation," using a pile of pottery shards won't make it disappear for everyone. This required the quest to be versioned. If you had it underway when Book 14 went live, speak to the bestower again to restart it.
  • The following quests have been changed to use external inventory items, meaning when one person uses the object, it will not disappear for everyone. This has required these quests to be versioned, so if you had one underway when Book 14 went live, please speak to the bestower again.
  • The 3 items used in the final boss fight in Barad Gúlaran now have unique color coded icons.
  • Several quests have been updated to indicate Bilbo's room is on the first floor, not the third.
  • Helegrod Corcur Talismans will now work like all other quest items.
  • The Vector quest to the Rift will now advance while you are in a raid.
  • Players no longer need to retrieve the ring Narchuil when completing Handarod's version of the quest "Weapons of the Enemy -- Redux."
  • The Ironbound Giant in "The Cauldron of Death" quest will now reset properly after he is killed.
  • "The Matron and the Master" is no longer restricted to solo players, and the instance can now be completed as part of a Fellowship.
  • The description for "A Secret Club" had a stringtable error when you went to choose it from the Reflecting Pool. Now it doesn't!
  • The quest "There and Back Again" in Evendim was giving you an incorrect quest item, but now it'll give you the correct one.
  • Directions to the spiders for the level 45 Class Quests have been cleaned up.
  • The Prologue for "Volume II: The Mines of Moria" is now available! Speak to Barbethnir in front of the House of Elrond to help the Fellowship prepare to embark on their errand of secrecy.
  • The amount of time allotted for the player to carry the hive in "Long Live the Queen" has been doubled.
  • Removed the quest prerequisites for the Bree Horse and Bree Pony Exchange quests.
  • The quest for Valuable Heartwood is now a daily repeatable quest.
  • In "Hungry Bear-friend," the quest now has an extra objective which allows the meat to stay until you return to the bestower. This required the quest to be versioned, so if you had it underway when Book 14 went live, you’ll need to speak to the bestower to start over.
  • Snagabash has decided he was running way over quota on his ruined elf blade distribution, so he has cut his carrying quantity in half.
  • The Large Stone monuments needed for the "Purification of Death" will now glow when you need to use them.
  • We have updated the guidance text in "Book 9 - Chapter 3: Journey to Esteldín" to make finding the "Knight of Mordirith" easier.
  • Foul Idols will stop spewing stuff upon being burned.
  • Consignment: Uncommon Ore: This quest is no longer shareable
  • Rathulf is no longer grumpy and will speak with players.
  • Helegrod monsters have ceased killing each other for barter items, and will now drop their own barter items instead of each other’s.
  • We have fixed a bug in the "Impure Waters" quests that was considered the pool in the entrance courtyard as a valid location to use the vial. After this change, you will now have to use the vial in the 3 pools after the entrance courtyard.
  • In "Book XIII" the hot spring in the final room now acts like all other hot springs.
  • To prevent players swapping members in and out of their fellowship to complete various instance quests, all of the items needed by the quests below will be despawned 5 minutes after the boss of the instance is defeated.

[edit] Book 13, Patch 1

Visit the original Turbine-released version of the Book 13, Patch 1 Release Notes

This patch went live on 13 May 2008

From the Release Notes
Gameplay
  • Toggle Skill Fixes: The following skills are no longer disabled by disarm.
  • You can once again move items around in your inventory while crafting.
  • “Disarm” will now only disarm the Main-hand weapon. This change opens a few known-issues, see below.
    • Known Issues:
      • Graphics Issue: When a player is first disarmed their Secondary Weapon/Shield disappears briefly.
      • When a dual-wielding player is disarmed they are unable to auto-attack with their secondary weapon.
  • Lore-master: The Improved Sign of Righteousness's icon effect will now last the full 60 seconds.
  • Fixed Hunter guide skills failing to guide you out of private encounters.
  • Fixed Minstrel Tale of Heroism and other group-benefiting skills (i.e. Hunter's Find the Path) within Raids.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing timing issues with ranged and channeling combat skills. These issues were primarily seen by Hunters (e.g. the skills Quick Shot and Focus) and Lore-masters (e.g. the skills Burning Embers and Blinding Flash).
  • Fixed a rare issue that could cause a rented mount to be player-controllable, but would also prevent dismounting.

Crafting

  • Crafting (Cooking): Fixed incorrect icons for both the "normal" and "superior" versions of all five types of craftable fish meals.
  • Loot: Fixed a bug that was preventing Scholar recipes from dropping in loot (Actually, there was a very tiny chance of getting a scholar recipe. Now normalized.)
  • Craft: NPC Taddyn has been updated to exchange Small Wight Barrow Treasure for the new item used in recipes (Small Treasure).
  • Craft: Taddyn now exchanges "Scarred Huorn Heartwood" for the newer item Scarred Heartwood
  • Craft: Taddyn now exchanges "Very Sharp Aurochs Horn" for the newer item Torn Claw
  • Loot: The old craft recipe for Superb Leather Leggings will no longer be created when using scroll cases.

Fishing

  • Fixed an issue that was causing avatars to get stuck in the fishing animation when jumping while a fish was on the line.
  • Fishing supplies can now be purchased from Garbert the fisherman in the Trollshaws.
  • The Basic Fishing Pole can now be purchased from any Fishing Supplier.
  • You can no longer use combat skills while fishing.
  • The Fisherman's Foe quest can now be advanced and completed. If you had this quest underway, it will be removed from your quest log and you will have to restart it.

Maps

  • Various mapnotes (stable-masters, etc) in Forochel now conform to the fog-of-war state.
  • The “To Evendim” button now shows up on the Forochel map correctly.

UI

  • Sorting the Who panel by quest will no longer crash the client.
  • The name of the quest now appears in the tooltip on the who and open fellowship panels when a quest is specified on the player's LFF or LFP entry.
  • Your fellow's quest status should now be shown properly when returning to a fellowship from being link-dead.
  • Since you cannot fellow with Rangers or group with Trolls, their entries have been removed from the available classes on the open fellowship UI.
  • Auction: The Trophy sub-category under Crafting should now list trophy items used in craft recipes. Important Note: If you currently have a trophy item listed on the auction house you will need to cancel the post and re-post it before it will be displayed in the correct auction category.

Graphics/Animations

  • Crossbows returned to normal size when Hobbits sheath them on their backs.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing NPCs killed through drama events to enter their t-pose.

Sound

  • Fix for the horse whistle. There will now be two shorter and cleaner whistles only heard on the client-side. No more hearing entire groups whistle for their trusty steeds!

Quests

  • The quest The Choicest Cut now gives its intended reward item.
  • We have greatly increased the respawn rate of the Caged Warg needed for the An Audition quest.
  • Fixed quest directions for “Fisherman's Foe.”
  • We increased the movement speed of the Raven in the The Raven quest in Forochel, so the escort portion of the quest should advance more quickly. We also thinned the number of monsters that spawn to attack him.
  • Replaced the description for the Small Trap reward (Forochel).
  • We fixed the guidance text in the Who Burgles the Burglar? quest.
  • We have made the Wayward Bull a little less aggro-tastic.
  • The Lost Fellowship deed now advances on completion of "The Choicest Cut," instead of Hungry Bear-friend. If you have already completed this deed or have completed "The Choicest Cut," you will be unaffected. If the deed previously advanced for you due to completion of "Hungry Bear-friend," you will need to complete that event of the deed again.

Monster Play

  • The “Eyes of Unnerving” icon will no longer stack on the Warg. It will now be properly removed when the Warg toggles off the “Eyes of Unnerving” skill.
  • Defiler heals no longer require the Defiler to face the target of the heal.
  • Defiler heals no longer break Wargs from stealth.
  • The Defiler skill, “Fire Gourd,” has had its resist category removed. This skill can still be missed, blocked, parried, or evaded.
  • The Defiler skill, “Curse of the Sticky Feet,” has had its resist category removed. This skill can still miss. This change puts this skill in line with other similar skills.

Forochel

  • Defeat in portions of the Lossoth village of Kauppa-kohta will no longer send players to Region:Bree-land.
  • A defeat volume found on the northern shores of Talvi-mûri has been removed. No longer shall you get smacked down for just wanting to walk out on a fjord.
  • A Zigilgund miner is now no longer deluded enough to believe that Arnmorth the Exacting can be defeated solo, and will advise you to bring allies.
  • We have added the rewards that were missing from the Venturing Forth quest bestowed in Kauppa-kohta. These rewards will allow you to complete the Defender of the Lossoth Protector of the Lossoth or Hero of the Lossoth item sets. If you have previously completed this quest, you will be able to take it again and choose your reward.
  • Loot: Fixed a bug that was preventing Frost Grims from dropping trophy items.

Items

  • The Warrior's Blade is once again a part of the Warrior of Rivendell item set.
  • "Blackened Wight Skull" mentions in the description of it being used in crafting but the information was not correct. The item is not used in crafting and the description has been updated.
  • A few pieces of Angmar jewelry that were buffed up in book 12 were debuffed accidently in book 13. They have been returned to their book 12 status.
  • Niko's Bow and Niko's Crossbow now have the correct ranged item stats.

Miscellaneous

  • You should no longer see reputation updates for -000 in red text when earning reputation in a region for the first time.
  • Fixed a stuck location in the Thrang encounter in the Rift.

[edit] Book 13

Visit the original Turbine-released version of the Book 13 Release Notes

LOTRO Book 13: Doom of the Last-king Release Notes

From the Release Notes
Highlights

Epic Story Continues

New Region: Forochel!

  • Over 100 new quests
  • Enhanced solo play
  • Extends the epic story
  • Vast, desolate landscape
  • New reputation faction: The Lossoth of Forochel
    • The Lossoth of Forochel are by their nature distrustful of outsiders, but once you earn their trust, they will reward you greatly. Fortunately, there will be many opportunities to earn their trust, as the vast majority of quests in Forochel reward you with Lossoth reputation. As for the rewards you will receive from gaining their trust, there are such things as:
      • Unique Lossoth Light, Medium and Heavy armor sets. These sets give bonuses to Frost mitigation, along with other buffs.
      • Fur-lined Cloaks to ward off the cold.
      • Native cooking recipes that can help you weather the elements.
      • Class items that can be obtained nowhere else. Tundra bear cub for your Loremaster? A Lossoth Herald for your Captain? Oh yeah! Lossoth-themed decoration items for your home.
      • A Tundra horse or pony.

This isn't the complete list, but the Lossoth of Forochel have the most rewards of any reputation faction to date!

New monster play class: the Orc Defiler!

  • First Monster Play "Healing" Class
  • Additional Orc avatar with multiple appearances and a full host of skills
  • For more information about the Defiler, see this Developer Diary!

Looking for Fellowship Enhancement

  • Updated Quest Journal to display more context
    • Quest Arcs (quests in a linear progression)
    • Fellowship members on your quest/arc, and their relative status
  • Share Quest button
    • A shared quest can share the first quest in an arc to players who have not started it
    • A shared quest can also share the next step in an arc if the receiving player partially completed and then abandoned it.
  • Find a Fellowship button
    • Mark a quest as one that the player wants a fellowship to help complete
    • Show a filtered list of players who also want a fellowship for that quest
  • Mustering Horns
    • Horns at remote dungeons and encounter areas, to facilitate groups gathering
    • A player can summon other members of their fellowship
  • For more information about the changes, please see this Developer Diary on lotro.com!

Introducing Hobbies!

  • Fishing is the first hobby being introduced in The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. From the Midgewater Marshes to the Shores of Evendim, players will find fishing to be a relaxing, entertaining – and beneficial – pastime. See your local outfitter to get started! For more information about fishing, see this Developer Diary on lotro.com!

Of Special Note:

  • The launcher got a new skin!
  • When housing upkeep is overdue, instead of foreclosing on your personal or kinship house, we "lock" the house. While your house is locked, you are denied the benefits of home ownership, including entry, access to storage, decorations, travel skill, and vendor discounts. However, your house and all the items it contains will be held for you indefinitely. You can unlock your house at any time by paying a restoral fee via the housing maintenance UI.
  • Adding “Frost” damage and mitigation as part of Forochel
  • Minimum level requirements have been added to certain milestones in the world. To make this more apparent, milestones can now be examined.
  • Animated housing decorations are now supported!
  • Outfit visibility slots can now be specified per outfit. On inspecting other players, only their currently visible items will be seen.
  • An update has taken place making craft recipe drops equalized among vocations. Prior to this change, there was a greater chance of getting tailoring recipes in loot due to the sheer number of recipes for tailors. This update gives an equal chance among all vocations regardless of how many recipes are in the group or how many new recipes are added in the future.
  • More active gameplay feeling in combat.
  • Smoothed and fix some existing animations.

Annúminas Changes

  • There are now chat broadcasts to all of Evendim when one of the 3 "control" points of Gwaelband, Clorhir or Tirband changes state.
  • There are now 3 banners in the camp of Echad Garthadir and Tinnudir that display the state of the 3 "control" points. These banners also explain what points need to be controlled to gain access to the instances of Glinghant, Haudh Valandil or Ost Elendil.
  • We've added a milestone to Echad Garthadir in Annúminas.
  • We've fixed an issue where the Darkwaters called in by Nengon in Glinghant were not detecting players. In addition, we've stat reduced those Darkwaters from elite to signature status.
  • We have made several Annúminas side quests repeatable every day. As part of this change, we removed the quests XP rewards, but slightly increased their money rewards. There reputation, armor piece and consumable rewards have also been modified, with the boss kill quests giving out more rewards, while the others have had their rewards decreased slightly. The affected quests are:

Landscape Quests

  • Drowning at the Docks End
  • Agarochir, Keeper of Tirband
  • Fighting in the Streets
  • Time of Need

Ost Elendil - The Palace of Annúminas

  • Balhest, Lord of Ost Elendil
  • The Door-warden of the Inner Chamber
  • Evil in Ost Elendil

Haudh Valandil - The Tombs of Annúminas

  • Dolvaethor's Menace
  • New Home for the Relics of Old
  • The Kergrim Stalk Haudh Valandil

Glinghant - The Gardens of Annúminas

  • Glinghant Corrupted
  • Impure Waters
  • Keep It from the Enemy
  • We have modified how the three control camps in Annúminas work. These camps are Gwaelband, Clorhir and Tirband. Instead of these camps flipping back to Invader control when all of the Warden guards are killed, they will remain in Warden control if the guards are killed until the original Invader boss returns to try and reclaim the camp. If all the guards are killed during this invasion, the camp will then flip back to Invader control. This change will mean that the 3 control camps will remain in Warden control for a much longer time.
  • Control of Gwaelband in Annúminas will now clear the bridge of Ariant - the bridge that leads to the Palace and Tombs instances - of Invader spawns. This should make getting to those instances easier.
  • When the 3 control camps in Annúminas are in Warden control, the bosses of those camps will spawn on landscape nearby. This will be especially helpful if you are trying to complete the "Agarochir, Keeper of Tirband" quest.
  • The token rewards from the boss quests has increased, while the consumable and token rewards from the other quests has gone down slightly. Completing all the quests will give less rewards then before, but now that they are repeatable, the token acquisition rate will be much higher.
  • There is now a new Annúminas token vendor. Glanlin has set up shop and has potions, food and recipe scroll cases for sale.

And In Other News, A Change to Monster Trophies:

  • Book 13 introduces a change to monster trophies in an effort to make them generic enough to extend their functionality across multiple species-types. The change will mean that all of the old trophies you have grown to love (or hate) will soon become extinct. The trophies already existing in your pack, storage unit, and auction house will be the last remnants of the old items. Let’s all shed a small tear for the last of the Clean Drake Tails and Lethal Sharp Dread Turtle Webbed Claws (that’s a mouthful).
    The change also means you should free up some pack space as there will be a greater opportunity to stack similar trophies. All of the Great Claws you collect should stack, regardless if they came from a Lynx, Bear, or Warg. This will save some pack space while adventuring in those regions that are home to multiple species that drop similar items.
    Most of the fallout to this change will reach the crafters, who have been using trophies as optional ingredients in many of their recipes. All of the recipes that utilize optional ingredients have been updated to use a new generic trophy item. If your recipe calls for the new “Tough Leg” trophy item you will be able to find that from 7 species located in all parts of Middle-earth. The change will undoubtedly make it easier to obtain most optional ingredients.
    You do not need to sell or delete any of the soon-to-be-outdated optional ingredient items. A new barter NPC will be located in the Bree-town Crafting Hall who can trade-in your old item for the new equivalent. I’m sure he will be incredibly busy exchanging the old Lethal Sharp Dread Turtle Webbed Claws into the new item. You can continue to buy outdated optional ingredients if they are still available on the auction house. The only added step will be converting them into the new item using the barter NPC.

And Everything Else!

Gameplay (misc.)

  • We have changed ranged auto-attack to allow you to shoot while moving, but with a significant miss chance penalty. Previously you were required to be stationary to use your ranged auto-attack. A new option has been added to the "Combat Options" tab on the Options panel to allow you to use the old requirements instead of accepting the miss chance penalty while moving. The new option is called "Enable skill miss chance penalties while moving", and it is checked by default.
  • Players, monster players, and session players w/ ranged auto-attacks can right-click or double-click to start attacking from range.
  • Fixed some random anti-exploit issues that have been popping up.
  • Top Secret Report received from Covert Agent "Haw-biht" deep behind enemy lines: "Displeased with their performance in combat, the Enemy has started training the troops in advanced Disarming techniques. When the training first began they'd more often lose a hand than a weapon. But now that their training has completed they are frightfully efficient! Able to render an opponent's weapon and shield completely useless for a time. I will send further reports as I learn more." The Straight Dope: When a character is disarmed they are now treated as having no weapons/shield equipped for the duration of the effect. Disarm is resistible via Wound resistance, and can be removed as if it were a Wound. Lore-master's "Leechcraft" and "Tend the Sick" can now be used without a Staff equipped.
  • Monsters have been de-ninja-fied. (Ranged Auto-attacks can no longer be parried.)
  • The MHO has issued a dramatic warning today that common Diseases may trigger a pandemic in Eriador. Diseases (such as the common “Frailty”) have been found to seriously debilitate players for much longer periods than was seen in earlier strains. We interviewed a high-ranking (but anonymous) member of the MHO who had this to say, "Pandemics usually occur every 2 to 3 months when the digital makeup of a disease changes so dramatically that players have little or no immunity built up from previous bouts with disease." We asked if he thought this trend was limited to just Disease: "Unfortunately, no. While not every disease may take on the same characteristics as “Frailty,” we have seen cases where Poisons remained in the blood longer, Wounds took longer to heal, and even Fear itself was slow to relinquish its grip on the mind." When asked how players could avoid these effects he recommends contacting your local Lore-master, Hunter, or Captain depending on the symptoms. Some skeptics believe that this isn't a natural phenomenon at all, that it was engineered by the Pharmaceutical Companies in order to increase the profits of their blockbuster products such as Conhuith, Lhinestad, and Milkthistle. The Straight Dope: Common Poison/Disease/Fear/Wound effects (debuffs) will have shorter durations at lower levels, while later levels they will have higher durations.

Skills/Classes General

  • The following skills have had their reset timers standardized to 2 minutes and 30 seconds:
    • Boast
    • Irresistible Melody
    • Command Respect
    • Practical Joke.
  • Fixed an issue with examining skills that require passive skills. Previously, these were incorrectly identifying the need to have a trait slotted.
  • All new Guardian and Burglar skills now have the appropriate trainer cost associated with them.
  • All classes with an Area Effect Heal will now heal Escorts.
  • The Falling Injuries debuff now supersedes the “Hounding Fear” and “Crippling Bite” debuffs.

Burglar

  • Burglar Tools now reduce Trick costs by greater amounts at all tiers.
  • A bug was fixed in the Burglar's trick-related traits that meant the bonus to Mischievous Glee healing was not applied to the initial healing when the skill removed a Trick.
  • Corrected grammar in the description of the Burglar skill “Contact Pedlar.”
  • The Burglar’s “Clever Retort” skill has a new fx!
  • Fixed “Riddle” failing to tap when aggro'ed by a monster.

Captain

  • The Captain's summoning horn can no longer be used to summon players to areas beyond their capabilities. Players who are of insufficient level to be summoned will appear gray in the selection list when summoning.
  • Captain's final bonus on the "Kappwin Armour" was only partially working, and has been fixed.
  • Using the Captain skill “Cry of Vengeance” now counts towards the Blood of Númenor deed.
  • The descriptions for Captain's Armament items have been re-written for clarity. These items change the appearance and name of the Captain's Heralds as well as increasing their armour.
  • Revised erroneous description of Captain skill - Shield of the Dúnedain. The skill has a high power cost but it is not "half your power."

Champion

  • Corrected a spelling error for the description of the Champion trait “Stalwart Blade.”
  • Fixed an issue where the Champion skill “Boast” did not have the appropriate trainer cost.
  • Adjusted the tooltip for the Battle horn to indicate the horn's stun effect has a variable duration; the stun's duration can be a minimum of 3 seconds to a maximum of 5 seconds.
  • The cooldown for the Champion skill “Glory” has been reduced to 4 seconds to match the cooldown for Fervour and Ardour.
  • Champion Horns will now target and potentially stun Monster Players.
  • “Raging Blade” will now apply the damage from all blows to the target. Previously the damage was displayed in floating text and in the combat log but it was never actually applied to the target.
  • Champion skill “Fight On” will now restore at least the amount of power listed in its tooltip.
  • Champion Skill “Dire Need” has had its description clarified to explain exactly what the skill does.
  • Champion skills “Rising Ire” and “Ebbing Ire” no longer require the Champion to face their target.


Guardian'

  • The Tooltip for “Overpower” has been modified to clarify that it disables block.
  • Guardian Trait Line Bonuses have been rebalanced. Higher Tier players should have an easier time juggling threat while using these traits.
  • Changed the tooltip description for the Guardian skills “Force Opening” and “Stagger” to indicate that “Overpower” must be toggled on before these skills can be used.
  • Guardian: “Improved Thrill of Danger” now has the correct cooldown time of 5 minutes.
  • Increased the power cost for “Shield Wall” from 10 power per second to 25 power per second.
  • When wearing 4 pieces of the Hlifworth PvP set, the “Turn the Tables” skill recovery time will now properly reduce by 25%.
  • The number of uses to earn the Strong Lungs deed has been cut to 30% of its previous value.

Hunter

  • Hunters can no longer transport players to areas with level restrictions they do not meet, and you can no longer travel with a hunter if you are in combat.
  • Fixed an issue where enemies standing in the Hunter's campfire or the crafted campfire could not be hit.
  • Fixed an issue with the way threat was modded. Hunters will now generate the appropriate threat in Strength stance and reduce threat correctly in Precision stance.

Lore-master

  • To prevent drive-by griefing of Stealthed Targets, Air-lore has been changed to Fellowship only.
  • “Sticky Tar” is no longer blocked by Silence.
  • Lore-masters now start the game with a different style robe.
  • Lore-master cosmetic fox pets will now run a great deal faster to keep up with their masters.
  • "Power of Knowledge" will now properly increment its associated deed on use.

Minstrel

  • “Song of Soothing” no longer affects monsters not currently in combat.
  • Simple and Crafted Lute have had their Anthem power cost reduction decreased slightly. The Superior Lute remains unchanged.
  • The “Guide to the Cowbell” cannot be used if you already have the cowbell playing trait.
  • The “Song of Aid” power cost should now be properly affected when instruments are used.

Monster Play

  • First Marshal Moror now displays that he is a dwarf.
  • Murderhole events at Tol Ascarnen should now function correctly.
  • First Marshal Dembent only appears when players control Tol Ascarnen.
  • Freeps can now flip the hotspot near Tol Ascarnen.
  • Trolls supporting the huorn in The Delving of Frór will no longer respawn instantly in the middle of the fight.
  • Banner bearers surrounding the Wights in The Delving of Frór will now return to full health if not killed within 10 seconds of one another.
  • Thorliw should now completely reset and not enter a combat state in which he can harm players but players cannot harm him.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing the warband maneuver combination Web of Terror, Poison, Wound, Poison, Fear, Poison to fail.
  • Dead bodies can no longer flip freep/creep-controlled hotspots.
  • A number of monster player Toggle skills, such as the Warg's “Stealth” and the Warleader's “Aura of Command,” were being disabled by negative states like Fear and Stuns where corresponding skills on players were not. Those skills will now remain toggled on even if the monster player is stunned, etc.
  • Ettendeep Armour sets are now bind-on-acquire.
  • Feldskyn armour, the Lore-master PvMP set, will now appear on the avatar when worn.
  • Ettenmoors slugs will no longer block attacks. Their parry and evade rates have been increased to compensate for the lack of block skill.
  • The ranged auto-attack for Spiders can no longer be resisted. The attack can be blocked or evaded.
  • Brands
    • Akúlhun's Brands will now properly grant immunity to fear when the Brand's effect is used.
    • The tooltip descriptions for Akúlhun's Brands and Lainedhal's Insignias now more clearly indicate that the immunity effect granted by these items only protects the wearer from incoming negative states (negative states that are currently on the player can be dispelled with the Rank 15 Brand/Insignia).
    • All rank brands can now be destroyed.
  • The Dull Spirit Stone, Glimmering Spirit Stone, and Luminous Spirit Stone will no longer display a sell price since they cannot be sold to a vendor.
  • Appearance 11 traits for monster players will now cost 26,000 destiny points (instead of the incorrect 260,000).
  • The Orc trait “Flayer of Flesh”and the Uruk trait “Brutal Persuasion” have been changed to require Rank 10.
  • The “Tireless Warrior” trait (Orc and Uruk) has been changed to require Rank 11.
  • Phial of Gorgoris' Kiss and Phial of Mazuak's Resolve can now be used while in combat.
  • The Ranked Cloaks found in the Ettenmoors now have improved stats.

Blackarrow

  • Completion of the Blackarrow skill “Vital Target” now results in the Blackarrow entering combat mode.
  • The snare from the Blackarrow's “Hindering Shot” skill is now set to wound resistance.

Weaver

  • “Shelob's Gift” will now appropriately activate when a monster is killed by the Weaver or by a member of the Weaver's fellowship.
  • “Shelob's Gift” and “Born of Shadow” now have their own unique icons.
  • The effect from “Born of Shadow” now has a more appropriate icon so it will no longer be confused with a root effect.
  • The trait Steelweave Webs has been modified. It will now make the Weaver's “Snaring Web” less likely to break when its target is damaged. The Steelweave Web trait will also extend the duration of the Weaver's “Entangling Web” and “Clinging Web” skills.
  • Weavers will now properly get the defeat response to be able to use "Shelob's Gift."

Warleader

  • Corrected the spelling of the Warleader's skill “Intimidating Shout.”
  • “Quit Whining and Fight” will now trigger more quickly after the induction finishes.
  • The Warleader's “Mobilize” skill now takes precedent over the “Draught of Troll Bile's” run speed buff.

Stalker

  • “Eye Rake” will no longer stack icons for “Eyes of Unnerving” on the warg when used.
  • Fixed an issue where the Warg's Appearance 6 trait cost an incorrect amount of destiny points. The trait will now cost 10,000 destiny points.

Reaver

  • “Blood of Fire” now has its own unique icon.
  • The Reaver's “Charge” skill will now properly block incoming root and daze effects.

Crafting General

  • Important Note! Many of the optional ingredients used in recipes have been phased out. If you currently have some in your pack or on the auction house, please be aware that they are not rendered useless. They have been converted to barter items that can be exchanged for the newer versions now used in recipes. Take your outdated optional ingredients to the NPC Taddyn, who is stationed just outside the Bree-town Hall.
  • Fixed capitalization consistency issues with the descriptions of some crafting titles.
  • Housing Decorations: Added information to the descriptions of some floor and wall pattern decoration items to notify players which floor & wall patterns are the default patterns used in housing.
  • New trophy items (now found on all creatures) have replaced the older, more specific trophy items that were used as optional ingredients in many recipes. In general, there should be more opportunities to find the optional ingredient you are looking for!
  • Re-added missing Tailoring, Weaponsmith, and Woodworker crafting recipes to treasure tables. These recipes should once again be available via treasure drops.
  • Supplier NPCs now carry Small Glass Phials, Glass Phials, Large Glass Phials, Small Clay Pots, Clay Pots, and Large Clay Pots.
  • Corrected possessive grammar issues for all of the following crafting recipes & crafted equipment: All "Outrider's" Medium Armor pieces, all "Outrider's" recipe scrolls, all "Soldier's" Heavy Armor pieces, and all "Soldier's" recipe scrolls.
  • Fixed a display name typo for the "Small Glass Phial" item. A stack of these will now properly display the stack name as "Small Glass Phials."
  • Suppliers now sell all five types of cloth and all five types of thread.
  • When you graduate tiers of proficiency in your craft profession, any applicable recipe icons in your inventory will display their usability state correctly.
  • Slightly reduced the price of twine and thread.
  • You now get an appropriate error message instead of just "Failed to create" when you try to create more than one of a unique item such as the Guardian's acorn whistle.
  • When you examine a crafting recipe, the tooltip now shows the quantity of produced items.
  • Crafted stack items now say the crafter's name in the tooltip
  • All Expert Craft Vendors now have Novice Craft vendor stock in addition to their own expert supplies.
  • Mathom House and Bluestone Garrison now have appropriate Expert Craft vendors.

Cook

  • Fixed a typo in the singular and plural display names of the item, "Savoury Seasonings."
  • Fixed an issue with the Master Cooking recipe "Blackberry Tart" - this recipe now requires a Superior Oven instead of a Campfire.
  • The “Order for So-and-so” quests to unlock Superior Oven access will now properly update if you destroy the items you need for them.

Jeweller

  • Fixed typos found in the display name and description for the "Memorium Ring" quest item.
  • Adjusted the rare required ingredient for some one-shot Jeweller recipes.
    • Journeyman one-shot recipes now require a Sapphire Shard.
    • Expert one-shot recipes now require a Ruby Shard.
    • Artisan one-shot recipes now require an Adamant Shard.

Metalworker

  • The quest "The Will of the Iron: Part IV" was previously rewarding players with a medium armor version of the Steadfast Helm. This quest has been updated to reward players with a heavy armor version of the Steadfast Helm. NOTE: Existing medium armor versions of the Steadfast Helm remain unchanged.
  • Adjusted the rare required ingredient for some one-shot Metalworker recipes. Journeyman one-shot recipes now require a Sapphire Shard.
  • Fixed a typo in the plural display name of Dwarf-chain.
  • Fixed a spelling error in the ancient emblem description.

Prospector

  • Updated the description on Dwarf-steel ingots.

Tailor

  • Fixed a typo in the plural name of Galadhrim Guards.
  • Common supply vendors (including those in reputation areas) will now have expert tailoring components for crafting.

Woodworker

  • Corrected a stat issue with the "Fortified Lebethron Staff," which was causing the item to have a higher maximum power increase than was originally intended.
  • Updated the names of the three critical crafted Champion Horns: Exquisite Simple Horn, Exquisite Carved Horn, and Exquisite Battle Horn

Items/Loot

  • Updated some of the treasure profiles for non-sentient elites so they have a greater chance of dropping some types of trophy items.
  • The necklace reward from the Evendim quest “Fool's Crown” has been renamed from "Avornin" to "Lithuifin Necklace.” No gameplay changes have been made to the item.
  • The reward from the Lonelands quest "A Price on Their Heads" was increased in power.
  • The quest rewards from "Belated Birthday" are being changed back to their original icons and names. This is a cosmetic change only.
  • Scroll of Ages now properly increases all professions’ critical chances.
  • No more quests will be giving out the old debuff removal potions that were unbounded by level. All such potions that players have will remain with them, but new ones cannot be acquired.
  • The "Armor of Fém" set is now called "Armour of Fém." The "Gauntlets of Fem" are now called "Gauntlet of Fem."
  • "Tasgall's Gift of Valor" is now called "Tasgall's Gift of Valour.” No gameplay change.
  • Fixed a bug in the treasure system that was allowing the old versions of wound curing potions to appear in low-level loot.
  • Rare monster "Kasak" has updated loot.
  • Bronweringor (once named "Ancient Wedding Band") has an updated description and icon.
  • Several rare and uncommon items from the Misty Mountains have had their visual effects changed to more appropriately match their damage type.
  • Renamed the Ettenmoors rare drop item Earring of Cunning to Earring of Insight so it won’t be confused with the Burglar quest reward of the same name.
  • The Basic Cowbell, Moor Cowbell, and Basic Bagpipe now have correct inventory icons.
  • The Monstrous Lurker Eye will now have a more appropriate icon.
  • The "Arnorian Armour Fragments" and "Battered Arnorian Armour" barter items are now bind on acquire. Existing items will be updated to have this restriction, so make sure you have these items on the character you want to have them prior to the update going live. Items on the Auction House will bind to the person who wins the auction, while items in housing storage will bind to the first person to pick them up.
  • Goblin Sticky Tar goop will no longer stick to your character permanently. It now goes away when the effect wears off.

Armour

  • Corrected typos for Gleaming Chainmail Gauntlets, Cloak of The Shire, and Elven Quilted Vest of Absorption.
  • The shield, Threkrand, should now be a more appropriate size.
  • A number of jewelry items that had the damage reflection ability had a bug that caused them to reflect only 1 damage. The bug has been fixed, and the following items will receive a boost:
    • Trinket of Fortitude
    • Tarechor
    • Rescued Gem
    • Eiliangor
    • Gem-encrusted Scale
    • Laerdan’s Savior.
  • Changed the name of the light armor reward from the quest “Shadow of the White Hand” to Saeradan's Leggings.
  • Fixed a spelling error in the tooltip description for Remmenaeg's Armour.
  • Dwarven medium shortsleeve armor will show up with correct textures and dyemaps.
  • Cloak "Nengol" has an updated description and icon.
  • "Calenglad's Shield" has been updated to use a different appearance.
  • New icon for "Robe of the Elder Days"

Weapons

  • "Orc-bane" has been updated to use the correct two-handed artwork.
  • The quest "Western Marches" has had the dagger reward from it changed from "Lorne's Dagger" to "Soltakh's Dagger".

User Interface

  • The Dressing Room UI will now come to the front of the screen when you try on an item.
  • Pending Quest Rings over NPC heads will now update to the normal quest ring when the quest is no longer pending.
  • Fixed a bug in the Auction UI that caused the Bid button to stay enabled even when it was not possible to place a bid.
  • Renamed the UI Option "Show Dispellable Effects" to "Show Dispellable Effects Only."
  • Items in the world that advance or grant quests will now close the associated quest UI when you get too far from the item.
  • Cosmetic pets now have a tutorial hint associated with them
  • Messages that have an item link at the beginning of a sentence will now be capitalized properly.
  • Any inventory items that cannot be used in combat will now reflect their usability state changes when entering/leaving combat.
  • You should no longer find yourself targeting the corpses of your previous attackers when using the "Previous Attacker" key binding.
  • The Reputation Panel should now always be displayed after clicking on a Reputation alert.
  • Intermittent issues with items in pack slots not being usable should be resolved.
  • The trade window will no longer show the name of the previous trading partner when starting a trade with someone new.
  • Dye interactions should no longer cause lingering dye pot mouse cursor issues.
  • Fixed some feedback problems when using the /inspect command: When used on non-players, would give a general error. When used without a selection, the help feedback was incorrect.
  • Locked movies in the Movie Library UI will now appear to be grayed out.
  • Fixed an issue with fading out the player at the end of swift travel.
  • Fixed an issue where some effects that are applied to the revived target weren’t included in the tooltip for revival skills.
  • Fixed an issue where newly-added swift travel routes would be unavailable until you talk to the destination stable-master again.
  • The Social/Who panel could get into a weird state where it wouldn't update until it was closed and reopened. This has been corrected.
  • Fixed a skill UI issue where companion skills would not grey out when using a non-combat companion skill.
  • You can now chat using the Numpad enter key. If you have the Numpad Enter key bound to another action already, you may have to rebind it.
  • Fixed /damagetext to allow floaty damage from other players to be seen.
  • Floaty critical damage text is more obvious now.
  • Floaty damage text doesn't overlap with entity names anymore.
  • Sound device names in the drop-down menus for Voice Playback and Voice Capture no longer get cut off.
  • "Report as Spammer" option changed to "Report as Gold Spammer" to reflect its intended functionality. All other reporting issues should be filed via ticket.
  • You can now use the "revert" button on the options/key mappings UI after you've mistakenly removed a key mapping.

Maps/Radar

  • Crafting Vendors now show up as their own map note type, so you can filter them differently than other vendors.
  • You can now track quest escort NPCs on both the radar and map.
  • Festival NPC's map notes will no longer display when the festivals are inactive.
  • Fog-of-War on the Map Panel for new areas added to the game since launch (Evendim, High Pass, Tal Bruinen, etc) were not functioning correctly and were sometimes revealing portions of the map they shouldn't. Shame on them! Players may notice some previously discovered map portions become undiscovered. Visiting those locations again will rediscover any undiscovered locations that were previously discovered.

Chat UI

  • The command "/lff" is now used to chat in the Looking For Fellowship chat channel. To toggle your "Looking For Fellowship" flag on or off, you must now use the command "/lookingforfellowship"

Deed Log/Quest Journal

  • Fixed the fact that the tooltip for the Add To/Remove From Tracker button in the Deed UI erroneously referred to the Deeds as Quests.
  • When you receive an invitation to join a fellowship you will now see the members of that fellowship before you join.
  • The quest journal and tracker "ready-to-turn-in" checkmark now appears only when the quest is ready to turn into an NPC (or in some cases an item); it will no longer appear early when you still have something to kill (such as the Captain-General quests in the Ettenmoors).

Tooltips

  • The tooltip for channeled skills now calls them Channeled Skills and not Toggle Skills.
  • Monster player "Corruption" and "Appearance" traits will now be labeled correctly in their tooltips.
  • Fixed an issue where typing characters in the chat window alongside embedded items could occasionally cause text corruption.
  • Tooltips for locked movies are now disabled in the Movie Library UI.
  • When a trait/virtue is equipped, it will now be labeled as “Equipped” in the tooltip and have a clear distinction in the UI from traits/virtues that are not equipped.
  • The word “Equipped” will now appear above an equipped Instrument when you cross-compare it.
  • Fire and light oils, among other potions, now show their duration in tooltips.
  • The mysterious "Minimum Rank: #" tooltip for some items is now more clearly written as "Requires: Glory Rank #" (or "Infamy" for monster players).
  • Skills which have an additional effect when you attack from the correct position now show that in their tooltips.
  • Fixed spelling and grammar errors for the Tentacle of Helchgam's tooltip description.

Fellowships/Raids

  • When you receive an invitation to join a fellowship you will now see the members of that fellowship before you join.
  • To assist you in finding a fellowship for your quests, we've added quest selection to the social/who panel. You can now set which quest you're looking for help with, and search for others looking for help on that same quest. You can also find help for a quest by clicking "Find a Fellowship" on your quest journal while a quest is selected. Please note that Anonymous is turned off when you select Find a Fellowship - so that other people can find you too!
  • Fixed a glitch where it was difficult to share quests with fellows who were more than 10 (but less than 30) meters away.
  • Fixed a bug with the Raid Assist Target window not populating when rejoining a raid.
  • Finally fixed the stuck in fellowship maneuver issue.
  • When you join a fellowship with the "Free for All" loot rule set, you will not get the chat spew telling you what the loot quality is set to. You now only get the loot quality chat spew appropriately when the fellowship is using the other loot rules.
  • When you join a fellowship (or monster player group) or when the loot rule is changed, you will get a tutorial message explaining the current loot rule to you.
  • There is now more feedback when you fail to join a fellowship.
  • Fellowship Ready Check can now be accessed by right-clicking on the Fellowship leader’s vitals.

Kinships/Tribes

  • To avoid any confusion, a warning will now make it clear that you will lose your kinship house if the kinship is disbanded automatically for having too few members or manually by the guild leader.
  • Monster player tribes will now be referred to properly in all places (as "tribe" instead of "kinship") and will chat in the "Tribe" channel. To chat in the Tribe chat channel, use "/tr" (as opposed to "/k") and to chat in the Tribe officer channel, use "/to" (as opposed to "/ko") or "/o" when sending a message. To use the various tribe commands, use "/tribe" (as opposed to "/kinship").
  • When you right click on a person's vitals display or on their name in the kinship/tribe UI and choose one of the kinship/tribe actions, you will now get confirmation dialogs concerning those actions.
  • A class column has been added to the kinship panel. You can now sort kinship members by class (low-class, high-class.. oh wait, not that kind of class!).
  • Monster player class icons are now visible in the monster play kinship panel.
  • Players who have not completed the introduction cannot be recruited into a kinship.
  • The right-click menus will now have the kinship/tribe option to quit (or resign in the case of leaders) labeled correctly.

Housing

  • Housing Items inside of Escrow will now persist for two weeks before being cleaned up.
  • Dear Skyscream of Brandywine,

We made the NPCs near your house a bit less chat spammy.
Love,
Keth

  • Fixed typos in some item decoration tooltips ("Decoration Category: Wall Colour" and "Decoration Category: Floor Colour").
  • You can no longer access the housing panel while in monster or session play.

Pets/Companions

  • The total recovery time on a pet skill now displays in examination.
  • PvMP kills done by a pet count towards deeds.
  • Pet Summon Skills no longer unghost when you select any entity. (Pet has to be summoned)
  • Fixed an issue with a group skill companion breaking the companion vitals.
  • Fixed the issue with losing the trail of a fellow member's companion.
  • Fixed the fellow companion vitals disappearing from a fellowship maneuver shade unsummoning.
  • Player pet names will now show up only if their master's name is shown.
  • Fixed a bug where floaty names for player pets were not conforming to UI option filters correctly.
  • Cosmetic pets and banners are no longer detected as combat targets.

Emotes

  • Are you acrobatic? Find out! The /flip emote is now unlockable.
  • More emotes now have sound.
  • Emotes performed after lying down, sitting or fainting will now execute only once.
  • Persistent emotes like /sit and /liedown will now be interrupted when a character uses /music.
  • Cleaned up various clipping issues when doing emotes while wearing a shield or wielding a non-weapon item like Bullroarer's Tankard.
  • Persistent emotes like sitting or lying down will now be interrupted by skill use while out of combat.
  • The emotes /dance1, /dance2, and /dance3 will no longer continue into the hand clapping emote when they end.

World

  • Moved the novice scholar trainer Issiril in Esteldin out of the rain and inside the Esteldin crafting hall with her friends. She’s very grateful (and dry).
  • Fixed an odd placement issue in the Free People's Camp outside of Fornost.
  • Various Player Stuck Spots have been fixed.
  • Door Usage Issue in Carn Dûm Sewers has been fixed
  • Fixed various terrain seams and grounded various floating objects.
  • Various light decal placement issues have been fixed.
  • Various pathing issues in Angmar have been fixed.

Town Services

  • More shops will offer discounts to the owners of special items. These items will not always grant a discount, but some vendors that should have allowed discounts were not set up to do so.
  • "Bork zee Cuuk" ves nefer a cuuk und zeereffure-a, hees ooccoopeshunel teetle-a hes chunged tu "Heeler & Prufeesiuner. Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp!" (Translated from Swedish Chef: "Bork the Cook" was never a cook and therefore, his occupational title has changed to "Healer & Provisioner.")
  • There were many expert woodworker NPCs selling novice weaponsmith items. These NPCs now sell novice woodworking items.
  • The Bree-land Outfitter now sells something that might be of interest to all of the fishing enthusiasts out there...
  • Vendors have been added to Aughaire and Gabilshathur, from which you can purchase certain set-piece rewards that may have been made unobtainable as part of the Great Angmar Revamp.

Music System

  • ABC notation now supports tuplets in the form of (p:q:r, which means play 'p' notes in 'q' time for 'r' notes. This can be shortened to, say, (3 for a triplet.
  • You can now have multiple tunes in a single ABC file. In other words, we now support the X: index field in an ABC file. When using /play, append the number of the tune you want to play. If you don't supply a number, the first tune will be played.
  • Dynamics support in ABC files! In other words, you can now control volume within an ABC file. Use any of the following decorations in your ABC file, in order from softer to louder: +ppp+, +pp+, +p+, +mp+, +mf+, +f+, +ff+, +fff+. +mf+ is considered the default volume.
  • Occasionally, you could get yourself into a state where your character would continue playing a song, despite having left /music mode. That's no longer possible.
  • When you use /playlist, you will now get a warning for any song which has duplicate X: tags.
  • Tune indices (X: tags) in ABC files are no longer shown with thousand separators.

Auction House

  • Generic trophy items that are not used in crafting no longer appear in the Crafting-Trophy category in the Auction House.

Graphics/Animation/FX

  • Fixed an issue with deer death animations that was causing them to stand back up for a brief moment after dying. No one ever said deer were smart…
  • Fellowship Maneuvers: Fixed an issue that was causing players to become stuck in the looping animation used for windups.
  • One of the Dual-wield auto-attacks was improperly using a 1-handed shield auto-attack animation causing some glitching. This has been fixed.
  • Mounts: Avatars will now whistle to summon their mounts.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing idle emotes to break induction animations.
  • Several Warg Stalker attack hooks have been modified to deliver hits earlier in the animation.
  • Fixed an issue with crossbow strings not hiding correctly when NPCs drew their melee weapons.
  • Fixed a number of combat issues that were causing animations to fail on monsters when they played certain skills.
  • Fixed an animation layering issue that was causing pony run-turn animations to lose sync.
  • Players and monster players are no longer visible in the world until the LOTRO client has finished loading and enters a playable state.
  • Characters will no longer attempt to play idle animations while in the /music state.
  • Fixed a problem on ATI cards running DX10 (no dynamic shadows) where distant players appeared to have beams of light shooting from their feet.
  • Your avatar no longer falls through your horse if you use /afk.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing NPCs practicing Archery to T-pose.
  • Canceling map to personal home or kinship house will no longer leave the scroll in the character's hand.
  • Fixed an FX problem where the melee weapon would stay during some animations that are not supposed to use it.

Audio

  • Fixed a bug that was causing music to stop playing in North Downs and a few other zones.
  • Fixed the ambient sound in Aughaire.
  • Added sounds to the following interactions:
    • Eating food
    • Drinking beer
    • Drinking curing potions
    • Using curing salves
  • Fixed an issue where race & class movies would incorrectly pause the background music when played during character creation.

Mobs

  • Misty Mountains monsters are now more solo friendly.
  • Hillmen which use the healing skill “Blood Gift” will now wait until they (or one of their allies) is damaged before using it.
  • Gauradan will now use their call for help skill less often.
  • Berated by his fellow Brigands as being "cheap", the Brigand Captain will no longer stun poor defenceless players for 8 seconds, but rather 3 seconds.
  • After being guilt-tripped by the Brigand Captain (see above Release Note): Boars, Bears and Brigands will no longer stun players as often who are nonchalantly jogging past them. (Note: Signatures and Elites are unaffected by guilt and still stun).
  • Book 12 - Chapter 6: Fixed a rare case of Corpse-crawlers & Blood-leeches continuing to fight after exploding.
  • Book 12 - Chapter 6: When Bloated Corpse-crawlers detonate, they will now deal Power damage instead of Morale damage.
  • World Eaters can no longer be summoned after the final Rift boss has been defeated.
  • Hey man, check out my IM conversation with the Balrog yesterday. He's such a windbag. :)

[16:47] Balrog: wth
[16:47] Me: Hey Rog, what's up?
[16:48] Balrog: hav u seen teh patch notes?
[16:48] Me: Not yet. Why?
[16:48] Balrog: more nerfs. this is bs
[16:48] Me: What'd they nerf?
[16:48] Balrog: me, i'm totaly unplayable now
[16:49] Me: I don't know, man. You're pretty bad-***... how bad could it be?
[16:49] Balrog: u no that sweet attack i had that could almost 1shot that stupid elf? yeah, they dropped the crit multipliar down by 50%. how the hell am I suppose to 2shot her now?
[16:49] Balrog: completly unplayable
[16:49] Me: Well... that *was* pretty cheap of you.
[16:49] Balrog: pfft, whatever. ur just pissed u didnt roll a balrog instead of that pansy champion
[16:53] Balrog: man, they better fire the dev that did this
[16:53] Me: Is that likely to happen, though?
[16:53] Balrog: u just wait. i'm going to start a petition on the forums. once turbine sees how many monsters will be quitting over this theyll fix it
[16:54] Me: *sigh*
The Straight Dope: The Balrog's attacks have been adjusted so as to not two-shot kill Glathlirel.

Pets/Companions

  • Companions set to assist will do so against the master’s selection from AOE skills.
  • Fixed a rare issue with companions assisting against mezz'ed targets.
  • No longer is companion chatter displayed in the regional channel.
  • Fixed some tracking companion issues while in a fellowship.
  • Fixed a companion issue where it would attack a non-threatening mob when its current target is mezz'ed.
  • Extra! Extra! Monsters strike back at turncoats! A Mr. Wight was interviewed earlier and had this to say: "Good! I hope those Lore-master-loving Bears get a good taste of my Shadow DoT aura! Now, don't get me wrong, I've got as many Bear friends as the next Dead, but I don't see why those Elf-hugger Bears have to go and join the wrong side. The next time I ambush a helpless female Hobbit in the B-downs and a Lore-bear comes running up like he owns the place, I'm not going to hold back! He's going to feel what it's like to dread Mr. Wight!" (Player pets will now be affected by hostile monster auras.)

Miscellaneous

  • The "Frost-giant Elders" found in the Misty Mountains are now called "Frost-giants" and are level 44, instead of level 47.
  • We've sat Legolas and Gimli down and explained to them the importance of "not breaking mez." They've promised to mend their ways and will honor mez more. (Although Gimli does swing his axe around a bit, so he might still snag a mezz'ed target in his zeal.) Added a new command, /reclaim, that can be used to recreate some of your promotional items in your inventory once per week. Please note that not all promotional items can be reclaimed. You must have enough space in your backpacks for all eligible items in order to execute the command.
  • Fixed an issue where players could use up a key when attempting to open a chest that's already been opened by someone else.
  • Removing a friend by using the command '/friend remove' will now give you appropriate feedback.
  • Guards are now more talkative when you click on them.
  • The player's portrait on the vitals display and character journal is now immediately updated when you use the barber shop.
  • Fixed a bug where when your inventory is overflowing and you mail something off, post an auction, or decorate your house, the item(s) in overflow were not being placed into the main inventory.
  • Item wear is removed when you’re revived after being defeated by a monster player.
  • No longer can fellowship maneuvers be used during spars.
  • The Dread now properly turns off after defeating Barz and Zurm.
  • The Seven Swords accomplishment will now properly bestow on players below level 47.

Quests

  • The quest “Sprung a Leak” requires sand that can now only be found in its intended location in the cave on the Winterheight.
  • Sara Oakheart shouldn't bug out as constantly at the end of the escort quests “Oakheart's Plight” and “Oakheart's Flight.”
  • Barachen now gives advice on where to find Adwold in the Trollshaws quest "The Hunter's Injury."
  • Wuxtry, wuxtry! North Downs quest "Rune-kenner" now completeable by classes other than Lore-masters! Readallaboudit.
  • Chief Ora of Pynti-peldot was apparently somewhat confused as to the names of her Scoutmaster and Huntmaster. She has been discreetly taken aside and politely corrected.
  • The ingots for the "Every Last Ingot" quest in the Misty Mountains can now be found on the goblins at a much higher rate.
  • The hides needed for the “Bears of the North” quest in the Misty Mountains can now be found on bears at a slightly higher rate.
  • We've fixed an issue with the "Fallen Apples" quest in the Shire where it could get into a state where it could not be completed.
  • We've modified Book 6 Chapter 6 to be more solo friendly. The fell spirit summoned is now a normal, instead of a signature, and you will be able to find more Ancient Watching stones in the Ram Duath.
  • We've modified Sorcerer Tath, who is required for Book 6 Chapter 5, to be more solo friendly. He is now a normal, and his minions have had their level reduced to level 41.
  • We have increased the spawn locations for the Ancient Ironscale, needed for "Swamp-dweller" quest in Angmar, to three.
  • To prevent players from using the Reflecting Pool as a way of getting to Gath Forthnir quickly, we have removed the door that leads out from the Book 8 Chapter 5 instance. However, you will still be able to exit the instance at any point if you cancel the instance quest.
  • We have streamlined the Castellan Wisdán fight in Barad Gúlaran, removing the need to solve his torch puzzle before beginning the fight.
  • We've addressed some issues with the drama sequence between Bhoghad, the Uruk Emissary, and Ashûrz the Great Goblin that would cause either of them to become unattackable.
  • We've addressed some issues with the Ashûrz the Great Goblin and Izkâl fight that could cause either of them to become unattackable.
  • Certain Elites managed to sneak into the Angmar landscape spawns, but they are now appropriately Normals. “The Matron and the Master” is no longer restricted to solo players, and the instance can now be completed as part of a Fellowship.
  • We have modified the Pale Folk encounter in the Carn Dûm Sewers. You must now clear this encounter to advance further through the dungeon. In addition, we have made it easier to tell which Pale Folk are currently summoning and reduced the total number of Pale Folk you must kill to clear the encounter.
  • We have fixed a bug in the Everseer portion of the Balrog fight so that he can no longer be drawn from his room prior to the door to his room closing. If no one is within the space when the door closes, the entire fight will reset a few seconds after the door closes.
  • Any player who previously completed the "Inn League Initiation -- Bird and Baby" quest will receive a considerable reputation award for the Tavern League faction.
  • More Angmar quests have been given reputation rewards. Players who have already completed these quests will be retroactively rewarded.
  • Using stealth while fighting the Great Goblin will no longer lock the goblin into NPC mode.
  • Fixed a reset issue for Gurthul in Carn Dûm
  • Fixed a bug with the Helegrod Courtyard fight where two Angmarim weren't aggroing properly.
  • Removed Leech-flesh requirement from Value of Vermin quest, as leeches no longer exist nearby.
  • Changed the name of an Iron Crown Commander in Angmar to reduce confusion with a nearby mob with a similar name.
  • Book 3: Chapters 4, 5, & 6 can now be underway simultaneously
  • Players may be left with 4 extra Dúnedain Banners after completing the Angmar “Rank and File” quest. These can be safely discarded after the quest has been completed. Players starting this quest after the patch will not encounter this issue.
  • The quest permissions on the doors inside the keep on Tinnudir have been adjusted: once certain people leave the keep, you won't be able to sneak in and see them again.
  • Adjusted the selection box for tracks in Evendim: no more pixel-perfect clicking required!
  • Removed the extra failure billboard in “Springing the Trap.” You’ll only see one if you fail – no more rubbing it in!
  • Adjusted the Tinker and Yeoman guides to properly reflect the Cook recipe they describe.
  • Tomb-robbers on the island of Rantost were fond of spamming your chat window with their plans to take over Evendim. They'll keep their plans more to themselves from now on.
  • Increased the drop rate of the quest items for the first stage of the Level 45 Class Quests, fixed a textual inconsistency in “Articles of Harmony,” and clarified the locations of the Worms needed by Burglars and Lore-masters.
  • Adjusted the difficulty of mobs involved in Book 10, Chapter 11.
  • The description for “A Secret Club” had a stringtable error when you went to choose it from the Reflecting Pool. Now it doesn't!
  • The quest “There and Back Again” in Evendim was giving you an incorrect quest item, but now it'll give you the correct one.
  • Directions to the spiders for the Level 45 Class Quests have been cleaned up.
  • The quest “Early Bird” will no longer display a message if you do not find an earthworm.
  • Updated quest directions for the quest “The Last Farm.”
  • Reduced the difficulty of the quest “Touch of Corruption.”
  • Fixed Barz and Zurm bug that caused the wrong wave of adds to spawn.
  • “Destroying the Hatchery” is now marked as a fellowship quest.
  • When using the reflecting pool, Book 12: Chapter 6 will no longer be called Remembrance.
  • The issue blocking more than one player from entering the “Seven Swords” instance has now been fixed.
  • The quest “A Villain Unveiled” can no longer be shared.
  • The spider gem cocoon in “The Spider Gem” is now properly located in the snares.
  • The boss in Book 12: Chapter 3 now spawns in his adds correctly.
  • Book 12: Chapter 9 NPCs will no longer spawn in the ground.
  • The movie now plays at the end of Book 12: Chapter 10.
  • A change was made to Book 12: Chapter 5 and the quest had to be versioned. If you had this quest underway, you’ll need to speak to the bestower NPC again.

[edit] Book 12, Patch 1

Visit the original Turbine-released version of the Book 12, Patch 1 Release Notes

This patch went live on 13 March 2008.

From the Release Notes
Classes/Skills
  • Ranged auto-attacks have had their miss rates increased when on the move.
  • Quest items will no longer drop while in a raid unless the quest items are used for a raid quest.
  • The range for melee conjunction skills has been increased to 2.5 meters to match the standard distance for all other melee attacks.
  • Guardian Skill Updates:
    • Movement effects have been prioritized to prevent lesser effects from overwriting more powerful effects.
    • Thrill of Danger has been fixed to drain power from monsters again instead of fellows (unfortunately it will also break mez again).
    • Overpower will no longer toggle off when a Guardian is silenced.
  • The trait Grim Challenge will no longer reduce the cooldown of the skill Engage.

Crafting

  • Re-added the missing Tailoring, Weaponsmith, and Woodworker crafting recipes to treasure tables. These recipes should once again be available via treasure drops.

Items

  • Crafted Shields will now properly sheath on the player’s back during ranged attacks, and will properly display the visual FX during combat.
  • Ashûrz's Adornment has been converted back to a necklace as it was originally introduced into the game as. If the item is currently slotted into an earring slot it will remain there until unequipped.
  • The sixth bonus on the Hunter's “Armour of the Aurochs” has been switched back to Penetrating Shot.
  • The Captain's Rift gear now grants the wearer the shadow mitigation bonus when the improved trait is slotted.
  • Dwarf medium short sleeve armor appearances are now using the correct textures and dyemaps. Dyemaps of dwarf medium upper and lower body textures have been adjusted.

World

  • Certain Elites managed to sneak into the Angmar landscape spawns, but they are now appropriately Normals.
  • Players should see fewer instances of monsters entering anti-exploit mode.

User Interface

  • Pressing

delete in the crafting panel's search box will now refresh the list just like any other key.

  • Fixed an issue with the spar timer where it would sometimes appear to stop while sparring.
  • Fixed a bug in the dressing room where body parts could vanish.
  • If you try on an item in the dressing room it will now be displayed even if that slot has been toggled off on the character journal.


Graphics/Animation/FX

  • Mount animations have been adjusted to reduce the jarring nature of run turns using mouse-look.
  • Avatars will no longer play their hit animations when hit while riding a mount.
  • Idle emotes will now activate less often. No more itching!

Miscellaneous

  • Fixed the issue with losing the trail of a fellowship member's companion.
  • Fixed an issue where newly-added swift travel routes would be unavailable until you talked to the destination stable-master again.
  • Fixed an issue with Fellowship Maneouvers breaking pets’ vitals.
  • When distributing items via Master Looter, the character receiving an item must be in the immediate vicinity of the fellowship or raid leader who assigns the item when the chest containing the loot is opened. Please make sure all members of the fellowship or raid are close to the Master Looter before opening the chest and beginning the assignment of loot.

Quests

  • The Matron and the Master is no longer restricted to solo players, and the instance can now be completed as part of a fellowship.
  • Fixed the pathing for monsters in the final boss room of “Book 12 Chapter 6.”
  • NPCs will no longer spawn in the ground in “Book 12 Chapter 9.”
  • The boss of “Book 12 Chapter 3” now spawns in his adds correctly.
  • The issue blocking more than one player from entering the “Seven Swords” instance has now been fixed.
  • The quest, Bullroarer's Challenge – Advanced is now available to players. Party on!

[edit] Book 12, Hotfix 1

Visit the original Turbine-released version of the Book 12, Hotfix 1 Release Notes

This patch went live on 19 February, 2008.

From the Release Notes
Graphics/Animation/FX
  • Elf and Human females no longer have wandering eyes when AFK.

Items (General)

  • The value of the Bree-Horse and Bree-Pony has been fixed. They will now be sold for a few copper, instead of several silver.

Quests (Specific)

  • Fixed a respawn issue "Book 12, Chapter 5" with Lozudurkh. He should now show up if a player who needs a key is nearby.
  • The final phase of the Seven Swords quest chain has been temporarily locked. It is meant to be completed by a group, and was incorrectly behaving as a solo quest.

Miscellaneous

  • Fixed a staircase in the High Pass. Players should no longer fall through the staircase in Hrimbarg.

[edit] Book 12

Visit the original Turbine-released version of the Book 12 Release Notes

LOTRO - Book 12: The Ashen Wastes Release Notes

From the Release Notes
Of Special Note

Class Updates

  • Month of the Burglar
    • With new skills granted as low as level 20 and with many filling out the top 10 levels, the Burglar gets new stealth skills, Fellowship Manoeuvre response skills, a positional damage buff, shared stealth, and a new mode of play called “Mischief” which emphasizes the Burglar’s Tricks and crowd control… just to name a few. For more information, please see the release notes below and the accompanying developer diary, "The Month of the Burglar."
  • Month of the Guardian
    • The Guardian has received new tanking related skills and has had some additional adjustments that should improve its tanking role. For more information, please see the release notes below and the accompanying developer diary, "The Month of the Guardian.]"
  • Month of the Champion, part 2
    • The Champion has received another pass, with several new skills added, updates to Legendary skills, the addition of a new stance (Ardour), and changes to the Glory stance. For more information, please see the release notes below and the accompanying developer diary, "The Month of the Champion, Part 2."

Player Customization

  • New player housing Decoration and Taxidermy items
  • Cosmetic-only Inventory
  • Travelling Clothes
  • Post-character creation "haircuts"
  • Housing Neighborhood improvements
  • Non-weapon wieldables/wearables

Monster play

  • Troll and Ranger session play is back!
    • Troll and Ranger sessions will have a max number of two appearing at any given time. One session will always be present for either faction. The second session appears only when your faction is losing the fight in the Ettenmoors (ie. You control fewer than three locations.)
  • New class skills!
  • New armor, weapon, and jewellery sets!
  • Introducing The Delving of Frór, a large PvMP dungeon
    • The Delving of Frór is a dungeon controlled by the faction – of monster players and players – currently winning the battle in the Ettenmoors. An aggressive reward system serves as the central theme for The Delving of Frór using the bartering system implemented in Book 10. Uniquely flavored wings, new monsters and encounters highlight the dungeon space.

New/Updated Content

  • Level 10-20 content
  • Many Fellowship and Small Fellowship quests downgraded in difficulty to be Solo or Small Fellowship.
  • Several Instance and Escort quests reviewed and modified to be less difficult for solo players
  • Quest arcs smoothed out to have more logical level progressions

Angmar

Continuation of the Epic Storyline

  • 10-Quest Arc for Book 12

Spring Festival!

  • Celebrate spring in Middle-earth with a series of fun quests and surprises
    • New dance steps!
    • New foods and drinks!
    • New mini-game – Bullroarer’s Challenge!
    • There’s lots more, but we’d rather not spoil the surprises!

Housing

  • Now all characters on your account share in the privileges of home ownership! All characters get the fast travel to personal home skill, and all characters get a discount at the neighborhood vendors. Note: Only the character who purchased the house can abandon it.
  • Usable Hooked Items
  • Light candles in your home!
  • Decoration Rotation – rotate objects!
  • Bound-item Support
  • Better Housing Ownership Identification
  • Owner’s Name displays as you approach their house – never wonder if you’re at the right house again!

New Systems

  • /reported! New anti-spam tools
    • A new button on the Mail UI allows players to report a selected mail message as spam.
    • A new entry in the Player -> Chat context-sensitive menu allows players to report chat messages as spam.
    • Note: If you report another player for chat spam, the alleged spammer is automatically added to your Ignore list.
  • Introducing the new Outfit System! LOTRO now supports cosmetic outfits so you can configure your appearance separately from your main inventory. If you have reached level 20, look for the new options in your character journal.
    • You can map keys to select which outfit you want to present to your fellow inhabitants of Middle-earth. Look under Options/Key Mapping/Cosmetic Outfit Selection.
    • Added new options for turning off shoulders & gloves. All the slot visibility toggles are now available from a checkbox on the character journal next to each slot. The options to turn off your helm, cloak, and boots are no longer available from the options menu.
    • New cosmetic (i.e., stat-less items intended for your cosmetic inventory slots) hauberks, backpacks, quivers, and social clothing are now available!
  • Barber NPCs have been added to major towns in the game. Choose from all Eriador’s latest hairstyle trends!
  • Generic Equipables - items that can be equipped by all “regular” players, regardless of class and equipment proficiencies. These items are visible to other players!
    • Pitchfork
    • Shovel
    • Bouquet of flowers
    • Backpacks and quivers!
  • Outfitter NPCs who specialize in cosmetic items have been placed in settlements throughout Eriador

Miscellaneous "You asked for it!" features:

  • The LOTRO opening cinematic movie is now only played the first time the game is launched. If you wish to watch it again, it can be found in the movie library at the character select screen.
  • A wonderful new product called Dye Wash is now available at your local tailor! Dye Wash will remove dye colour from a piece of clothing or armour, returning it to its base color. Don’t delay, get yours today!
  • Item wear is removed when you’re revived after losing a sparring match.
  • The Epic armour sets are now dyeable!
  • Added a new option to allow players to always auto-loot corpses and other containers when opened. You will find the "Always Loot All" option in "Misc" section of the UI Settings tab on the Options panel.
  • By popular request, we have placed a mailbox near the Auctioneers in the Rivendell Valley – no more schlepping up and down that hill!
  • All 5 quick-slot bars can now be docked at once.
  • Added a new command, /reclaim, that can be used to recreate some of your promotional items (Ring of Agility, The Fallen Star of Gil-galad, etc.) in your inventory once per week if you accidentally destroyed them. Please note that not all promotional items can be reclaimed. You must have enough space in your backpacks for all eligible items in order to execute the command, and you can only run this command once every 7 days.

On to the Release Notes!

Classes/Skills

  • Ranged Attacks
    • All players (including monster and session players) with ranged auto-attacks can now right-click or double-click to start attacking from a distance.
    • We have changed ranged auto-attack to allow you to shoot while moving, but with a significant miss chance penalty. Previously you were required to be stationary to use your ranged auto-attack. A new option has been added to the "Combat Options" tab on the Options panel to allow you to use the old requirements instead of accepting the miss chance penalty while moving. The new option is called "Enable skill miss chance penalties while moving", and it is checked by default.
  • Fear
    • Fear has changed in a few ways. Previously, it would break on any damage received. Now, damage from pre-existing DOT has only a very small chance to break the target out of Fear. Any attacks made on the target after 2 seconds of entering Fear will still break the target out of Fear. Additionally, the radius of the target's call for help has been halved and at most one add will respond (though pets and their masters will still pull together). This means that targets suffering from DOTs are very unlikely to break out of Fear if they are not attacked while running and they are less likely to bring adds.
    • Monsters affected by Fear will now generally run further from the source of the fear. They will also choose a narrower path away from the source, giving more reliability to the direction Fear-affected monsters run. However, cornered monsters may still choose to run past their attacker to get away.
  • The elf skill “Eldar's Grace” now overrides and suppresses most of the effects of the Champion class's “Fervour” and “Ardour” stances. These stances will return to full effect once “Eldar's Grace” has expired. A side effect of this change is that “Eldar's Grace” will no longer stack with the Champion's “Sudden Defense” skill.
  • Players will be able to mark Fellowship Skills (Warband Skills for monster players) as active, so a fellowship can have a target group skill to perform. The fellowship leader can select the desired skill in the Fellowship Skill panel.
  • Fellowship Skills can no longer be used during spars.
  • Perk Hope Buffs purchased with Destiny Points will no longer be affected by effects which dispel normal hope buffs.
  • Skill trainers now display two full lines of skill information - no more chopping off the second line!
  • Skills that transfer vital points from a target to the caster will now display the effect statistics when moused over. These include the monster play warband maneuvers.
  • Skills that require passive skills were incorrectly identifying the need to have a trait slotted.
  • “Disarm” has been changed to give a Wound resistance check to negate its effects instead of just automatically working. This change also allows players to dispel Disarm like any other Wound effect.
  • Players using tracking can now right-click an entry in the entity tracking window to begin tracking it
  • It is now possible for skills which apply Improved Dazed to a target to renew it before it has ended. However, it is not possible to renew Improved Dazed in the first 15 seconds after it has been applied. This is to prevent chain stunning using the first 5 seconds of the Improved Daze which does not break on damage.
  • Previously the term "Characteristic" was used for "Passive Skills." For consistency, we've changed all references to "Characteristic" references in the game to "Passive Skill."
  • Fixed a bug that was preventing players and monsters alike from observing skill recovery times in some cases.

Burglar

For even more information, please see the the accompanying developer diary, “The Month of the Burglar” at http://www.lotro.com/article/483.

  • Improved the effects of the Burglar's Class Trait "Overwhelming Odds."
  • Increased duration of all effects bestowed upon successful fellowship maneuvers.
  • Increased the boost to “Mischievous Glee” healing for successful fellowship maneuvers using Conviction.
  • Improved the amount of power reduction for successful fellowship maneuvers using Tactics.
  • Increased the melee damage boost for successful fellowship maneuvers using Strength.
  • Extended the added pulses for DOTs to "Well Placed Strike" for successful fellowship maneuvers using Guile.
  • Fixed a bug where the positional damage bonus from traits was not accruing to the “Cunning Attack” skill.
  • Fixed a bug where the miss-chance reduction bonus from traits was not accruing to the “Trip” skill.
  • Burglar items which reduce the power cost of Tricks now also reduce the power cost of Trick-removing Twists.
  • The buff to Stealth level conferred by Burglar's "Hide in Plain Sight" and the Warg's "Disappear" has been replaced with an outright protection from detection for the 10s duration of the effect. The protection from damage breaking stealth is still present. Note, however, that abilities or effects that specifically break stealth will still disrupt the Burglar or Warg's stealth.
  • Fixed an issue where the Burglar’s “Riddle” skill was failing to tap when the Burglar was aggro’d by a monster.

Captain

  • The Captain’s summoning horns now have nicer-looking icons.
  • Increased the range of the Captain’s “Shield-brother” skill by 10 meters.
  • Increased the range of all Shield-brother skills by 10 meters.
  • Reduced the cooldowns of all Tactics to be negligible.
  • The animations for “Noble Mark” and “Revealing Mark” are now faster.
  • The Herald skills “Coordinated Attack” and “Infuriating Tactics” no longer require your target to be Marked.
  • Reduced the cool-down of “Coordinated Attack” to 30 seconds.
  • The Captain's Rift armour has been updated so Heralds now grant a 1% shadow mitigation buff similar to that gained by the Standards. Heralds still get their self-buff of 5% shadow mitigation.
  • The cool-down on “Wrath of the Oathbreakers” has been reduced to 5 minutes.
  • The cool-down on “Shield of the Dúnedain” has been reduced to 10 minutes.

Champion

For even more information, please see the accompanying developer diary, “The Month of the Champion, Part 2” at http://www.lotro.com/article/484.

  • The Champion’s "Guardian's Axe" has been renamed "Champion's Axe."
  • The description for the Champion’s "Braced against Defeat" trait no longer inaccurately claims to increase the amount of healing based on nearby enemies.
  • Special effects used by the Champion's “Fight On” skill are now more appropriate to the effects of the skill.
  • The tooltip for the Champion’s “Exchange of Blows” now displays the duration of the effect, and the effect icon now matches the skill icon. Its description has also been made more clear.
  • Fixed an issue where the Champion’s skill “Boast” did not have the appropriate trainer cost.
  • Corrected a spelling error for the description of the Champion trait, “Stalwart Blade.”

Guardian

For even more information, please see the accompanying developer diary, "[http://www.lotro.com/article/481 The Month of the Guardian."

  • Guardians have a new level 48 skill, “Charge,” which increases run speed by 50%.
  • The Guardian’s “Thrill of Danger” skill will no longer be resisted by monsters.
  • The Guardian’s “Catch a Breath” skill now delivers its heal at the start of the animation.
  • When using a Guardian's Acorn, the induction bar now says "Summoning Guardian..."
  • The Guardian’s “Thrill of Danger” and “Warrior’s Heart” skills will now properly apply their enhanced effects when trait-slotted.
  • Guardian Item Wear Updates:
    • Heavy shields now cost as much to repair as normal shields, about half what they used to cost.
    • When the “Guardian's Ward” trait is slotted, the Guardian's Ward effect will prevent 10% of all hit-based item wear. Un-slotted, it will prevent 5%.
    • “Guardian's Defense” will prevent 5% of all block-based item wear.
    • “Guardian's Parry” will prevent 5% of all parry-based item wear.
    • “Guardian's Threat” will prevent 5% of all hit-based item wear.
    • “Overpower” will prevent 5% of all parry-based item wear.
  • Increased the power cost per second for the Guardian’s “Shield Wall” from 10 power per second to 25 power per second.
  • The Guardian’s traited “Thrill of Danger” now has the correct cool-down time of 5 minutes.
  • When wearing 4 pieces of the Hlifworth PvP set, the Guardian’s “Turn the Tables” skill recovery time will now properly reduce by 25%.
  • The Guardian's “Braveheart” trait will now heal more of your morale when invoking “Warrior's Heart.”
  • The Guardian’s “Thrill of Danger” skill no longer breaks mezzes; “Catch a Breath” is now blocked by Silence instead of Disarm.
  • The number of uses required to earn the “Strong Lungs” trait was cut to 30% of its previous value of 100.

Hunter

  • Melee Attacks/Combat
    • Most of the Hunter’s melee skills damage has increased; some skills have recovery timer increases as well.
    • Low Cut has had a slight increase to damage.
    • Agile Riposte - Significant damage increase, recovery timer increased.
    • The Hunter’s Blindside skill has had a damage increase, now adds 3 points of focus on use, and has an increased recovery timer from 10 seconds to 20 seconds.
    • The Hunter’s Agile Rejoinder will now begin execution much faster. Also, it cannot be parried, blocked, or evaded, nor will it miss against targets of your level.
    • The level where Hunters can purchase the Dual Wielding passive skill has been lowered from 15 to 10.
  • The Hunter’s Swift Stroke now applies a short-term self-buff to Parry chance.
  • The Hunter’s Scourging Blow has been given an increased chance to critical on both the melee attack and Barbed Arrow removal damage.
  • Barbed Arrow - Halved the number of pulses and doubled the damage per-pulse.
  • Reduced the rate that Hunters lose Focus for moving from 1 focus per second to 1 focus per 3 seconds. Example: If you use Low-cut and then run for 6 seconds you will lose 2 points of Focus. If you run for 4 seconds, you will still lose 2 points. If you run for 3 seconds or less you will lose 1 point.
  • The Hunter’s Merciful Shot may now be used on targets below 50% health (rather than below 25% health). The recovery timer has been increased from 10s to 30s.
  • Fixed a minor Hunter FX bug.

Lore-master

  • The Lore-master's "Test of Will" skill now has accompanying sound.
  • Lore-master pets have returned from temperament training and will no longer cause an auditory ruckus when summoned.
  • Storm-Lore now has a new icon.
  • A sound will now play to indicate that a Lore-master's pet has flanked an enemy.
  • The sound for the Lore-master's “Knowledge of the Lore-master” skill has been replaced.

Minstrel

  • The Minstrel's "Unrelenting" trait no longer gives -3s cooldown reduction to Piercing Cry.
  • “War-Speech” no longer toggles off when silenced.
  • “Chant of the Oathbreaker” and “Call to the Elder King” have had their names and descriptions changed. No gameplay effects have changed as part of this modification.
  • “Silver Tongue” now properly reduces the cooldowns of "Song of Restoration," "Lay of the Hammerhand," and "Fellowship's Heart."
  • “Chord of Salvation” is now effected by the “Life-Singer” trait.
  • “Song of Aid's” power cost should now be properly affected when instruments are used.
  • “Song of the Hopeful Heart’s” power cost has been adjusted to be more in line with the power cost of a buff, rather then a toggle skill.
  • “Anthem of the Wizards” is now impacted by the “Glorious Anthem” trait.
  • The minstrel class instruments referred to "Chant of the Oathbreaker" instead of "Echoes of Battle". This has been fixed.

Monster Play

  • Session play
    • The Ettenmoors quest "Aid from the Rangers" should now be functional.
    • Session-player Rangers could communicate in-game with monster players. This has been fixed!
    • The session-play Troll should no longer slip when moving backwards.
    • After looking at data and listening to feedback about Trolls and Rangers in the Ettenmoors, we have made the following changes:
      • Troll and Ranger sessions will have a max number of two appearing at any given time. One session will always be present for either faction. The second session appears only when your faction is losing the fight in the Ettenmoors (ie. You control fewer than three locations.)
    • Troll bestowers will no longer have faulty interaction with Troll sessions.
  • All session quest wrappers will now fail when the player or monster player fails to complete the session quest. This will result in the failure retry timer of 12 hours kicking into effect. This will also result in the loss of Destiny Points for monster players and tokens of valor for regular players.
  • Fixed a bug with quests including failure cases on session quests that were displaying and telling you to fail the session instead of telling you to not fail the session.
  • The "Tactical Crit" label no longer overwrites its value in the monster player character journal.
  • Monster players no longer have "Legendary" traits. Instead, they have "Appearance" traits. All Appearance traits which were formally in the Race category have been moved to Appearance. If the Appearance trait was slotted before, it will remain slotted in the new category.
  • The Reputation tab is now grayed out when in monster or session play.
  • Freeps and Creeps can no longer adopt each other. We’re sure your hearts were in the right place, but no consorting with the enemy!
  • Monster play Morningthaw Bears are no longer invulnerable to defeat circle guards. The guards will now kill them, and pretty darn quickly.
  • The spider skills for “Entangling Webs” and “Poison Spray” are now on independent cooldowns. You can use “Poison Spray” and your web abilities one after the other.
  • Ranged spider skills will now correctly receive damage bonuses from corruptions slotted to increase the damage yield of skills.
  • Spiders are now correctly identified as female. Girl power!
  • Hatchlings have been improved. They are now normal level creatures - still uncontrolled - lasting for 45 seconds on the battlefield. Hatchlings walking through their mommy's webbing will no longer suffer a movement penalty.
  • Some spawns that weren’t appearing all the time have been updated and should now load correctly. (This includes the new Nemesis dwarf in the elf camp near Tol Ascarnen.)
  • You can no longer stealth while attempting to take control of a hot point in the Ettenmoors.
  • There was an issue where the settings on the Warleader skill “Banner of Terror” was sometimes reacting with players in a positive manner instead of a negative manner. This has been addressed.
  • There was an issue with the settings of the Warleader skill “Command Post” that was applying the wrong buffs to monster players and also applying a debuff to monster players. This has been fixed.
  • Trolls can now be stunned and stunned to open fellowship maneuvers. They cannot be stunned into daze effects (Improved Riddle/Perplexing Riddle).
  • Hot Points
    • Tol Ascarnen Hot points: The hot points at Tirith Rhaw will now correctly call Free Peoples defenders when under the control of the Free Peoples. (Reminder: You must remain within the immediate vicinity of hot point flags to capture them for 30 seconds. The area is roughly 6 meters from the center of the flag.)
    • Players can no longer stealth while near hot points.
    • We have also enhanced the hot point recognition system and players should no longer see oddities when trying to reclaim a hot point. There were certain conditions where players/monster players could enter at the same time, one leave and another stay within the area and never see the flip occur. This will no longer happen.
  • The tooltip for the Uruk Warleader enhanced skill “On Your Feet!” now correctly states a 60 second reduction in cooldown for the skill.
  • The Warg skill “Crippling Bite” now correctly displays "Slows target's movement by 25%."
  • Completion of the Blackarrow skill “Vital Target” now results in the Blackarrow entering combat mode.
  • First Marshal Moror now displays that he is a dwarf. It was a confusing time in his life.
  • Murderhole events at Tol Ascarnen should now function correctly.
  • First Marshal Dembent will now only appear when Freeps control Tol Ascarnen.
  • Freeps can now flip the hotspot near Tol Ascarnen.
  • The Spider skill “Ensnaring Web” is now a root ability lasting for 16 seconds, and has a chance to break on damage dealt.
  • The recast timer on the Warleader “Banner of Terror” was increased.
  • Fixed a bug that could leave players stuck in a bad location when revived or awakened from defeat.

Crafting

  • A new Craft-hall has opened in Esteldin! Most Crafting-associated NPCs have moved inside.
  • Common supply vendors (including those in Reputation areas) will now have expert tailoring components for crafting.
  • All expert crafting vendors now have novice crafting vendor stock in addition to their own expert supplies
  • Recipes that produce class items (such as tricks, traps, lute strings, etc.) can now be purchased from the appropriate profession vendor/trainer.
  • A new crafting animation has been introduced for farmers performing actions at a workbench
  • Corrected issues with low-level recipe scrolls appearing in higher level loot.
  • Crafted items for the Crafting Advancement quests can no longer be accidentally destroyed.
  • Corrected a typo in the description of "Log-holder Decoration Recipe." The description now properly states that it is a Journeyman Forester recipe.
  • Corrected the description of the craftable reputation item "Bree-spear" to accurately reflect the type of wood used in creating the item.

Cook

  • The "Campfire Materials" recipe can now be purchased from Novice Cooking vendor NPCs.
  • Reduced the required ingredients for all 'Honey and Oats” recipes. Craft experience rewards for these recipes have also been slightly reduced.
  • Slightly reduced the craft experience rewards for all ”Lute String” recipes (difficulty did not match craft experience reward).
  • Added two new cooking craft components to novice and expert cooking trainer-vendors: "Small Clay Pot" and "Large Clay Pot."
  • Updated the required ingredients for the tier 2 cooking recipe, "Crude Honey and Oats." This recipe now requires the Small Clay Pot as an ingredient.
  • Updated the required ingredients for the tier 4 cooking recipe, "Smooth Honey and Oats." This recipe now requires the Large Clay Pot as an ingredient.
  • The Expert recipe, "Vegetable Medley," now has a more appropriate icon
  • The journeyman Cooking recipe "Complete Hobbit Breakfast" was not using the correct required ingredients. This has been fixed.

Jeweller

  • Corrected issues with two Jeweller decoration recipes that were not set to "Bind on Acquire." These recipes will now be bound to the player upon purchase: Pointed Chandelier Decoration Recipe and Silver Candlestand Decoration Recipe.

Metalsmith

  • Removed the following items from treasure. These recipes are now sold by Novice Metalsmith trainers:
    • Bronze Smithing Hammer Recipe
    • Bronze Woodworking Tools Recipe
    • Bronze Mining Pick Recipe
    • Bronze Forester's Axe Recipe
    • Bronze Cooking Supplies Recipe
    • Bronze Scholar's Glass Recipe
    • Bronze Jeweller's Tools recipe
    • Bronze Tailor's Tools Recipe
    • Bronze Farming Tools Recipe
  • Tier 3 Heavy "Gondorian" armor is now called, "Defender's" armor.
  • Tier 5 Heavy "Ancient" armor is now called, "Knight's" armor.

Prospector

  • The names of all "Mining Pick" tools have been changed to "Prospector's Tools." This is merely a change in the name of the item, and does not alter their functionality.

Tailor

  • Novice Tailor vendors now carry Spools of Rough Thread.
  • Corrected the required ingredients for the following six Tailoring decoration recipes (these recipes were previously using only store-bought ingredients):
    • Small “Tree Shadow” Rug Decoration Recipe
    • Large White “Leaf Border” Rug Decoration Recipe
    • Small “Ring and Leaf” Rug Decoration Recipe
    • Large “Dragon-fly” Rug Decoration Recipe
    • Small “High Seas” Rug Decoration Recipe
    • Cushioned Bench Decoration Recipe.

With the exception of the Cushioned Bench, the above recipes were also incorrectly set to be “Bind on Acquire.” This has been fixed.

  • The Rangers of Esteldin reputation vendor was previously selling two Tailoring recipes that incorrectly required faction standing with the Wardens of Annúminas. This has been fixed so the recipes now require the proper faction standing with the Rangers of Esteldin.
  • Master Tailors may now inscribe Intricately Woven Grand Master Standard of Hope, Victory, and War upon successful creation:
  • Tier 5 Medium "Rangers'" armor is now called "Campaigner's" armor
  • Tier 5 Medium "Galadhrim" armor is now called "Protector's" armor

Scholar

  • Removed all Fire-oil, Light-oil, and Bow Chant recipes from loot. These recipes can now be purchased directly from Hunter vendor-trainers. Their required ingredients and craft experience rewards have also been slightly reduced.
  • Removed Gold Dye Recipe, Sienna Dye Recipe, Lesser Essence of Athelas Recipe, and Lesser Celebrant Salve Recipe from loot. These recipes are now sold by Novice Scholar trainers.
  • Added two new scholar crafting components to novice and expert scholar trainer-vendors: "Small Glass Phial" and "Large Glass Phial." Some ”Fire-oil,” “Light-oil,” ”Essence of Athelas,” and ”Celebrant Salve” recipes have been updated to use either the new "Glass Phial" or the "Large Glass Phial" items as required ingredients.
  • Corrected issue with Scholar dye recipes using incorrect optional ingredients. Dye recipes found in tiers 1 through 4 will now use more level-appropriate optional ingredients.

Weaponsmith

  • Removed all trick, shield-spike, and trap recipes from loot. These recipes can now be purchased directly from burglar (trick recipes), guardian (shield-spike recipes), and hunter (trap recipes) vendor-trainers, as well as the appropriate crafting profession vendors.
  • Reduced required ingredients and craft experience rewards for all trick, shield-spike, and trap recipes (with the exception of lure trap recipes, see below). In general, these recipes now require significantly fewer ingots to execute.
  • The required ingredients for lure trap recipes were slightly increased to bring these recipes in line with all other trap recipes (these recipes now require two Bundles of Straw).
  • Corrected issues with two Weaponsmith decoration recipes that were not set to be Bind on Acquire. These recipes will now be bound to the player upon purchase: Leaf-blade Chandelier Decoration Recipe and Leaf-blade Candlestand Decoration Recipe.

Items General

  • Codemasters ONLY: The Welcome Mat has been updated to be bound to the player. The item can no longer be traded or auctioned off, but will still function as a decoration item for your home.
  • Updated the icon used for the Adamant gem, Basic Cowbell, Moor Cowbell, and Basic Bagpipe.
  • The shield Threkrand should now be a more appropriate size.
  • Changed the name of the light armor reward from the quest “Shadow of the White Hand” to Saeradan's Leggings.
  • Several rare and uncommon items from the Misty Mountains have had their visual effects changed to more appropriately match their damage type.
  • Calenthon's Whistle will now properly display its cool-down timer of one minute.
  • Equipment that requires a specific virtue rank will now take into account any racial traits that increase your virtues.
  • The following Great Barrows items have been improved: Death-Puller, Death-Splitter, and Wind-Raker
  • Fixed the description on Forvengwath's Fragment to say what it does when used.
  • The following quest reward clothing items have seen an increase in stats:
    • Tirithol
    • Naerandir's Gauntlets
    • Skunkwood's Coat
    • Wight Guard
    • Sambrog Stompers
    • Hanhar
    • Amarion's Padded Gauntlets
    • Zanthrug's Fall
    • Krithmog's Stompers
    • Faervaib
    • Túrcham
    • Swift-riders
    • Zanthrug's Foe
    • Zanthrug's Foil
    • Zanthrug's Fall
    • Shield Finders Legs
    • Emelin's Leggings
    • Goldberry's Hope
    • Ivar's Defeat
    • Oakheart's Shoulder Guards
    • Oakheart's Leggings
    • Oakheart's Thanks
    • Dannasen's Shirt
    • Dannasen's Duty
  • The following quest reward shields have increased enhancements and upgrades:
    • Brecthann
    • Longamath
    • Manathan
    • Guard of the Eglain
  • The following quest reward jewelry items have seen an increase in stats:
    • Isgor
    • Naerandir's Necklace
    • Golugor
    • Oakheart's Earring
    • Bregechor
    • Necklace of Rhudaur
    • Oakenbark's Redemption
  • The following quest reward weapons have seen an increase in stats:
    • Anorchathol
    • Urn Finder's Staff
    • Sambrog's Bane
    • Leafcutter's Edge
    • Maedhrusc's Mace
    • Widdup's Spear
    • Túrhigil
    • Warmonger
    • Saeradan's Bow
    • Relentless Staff
    • Celegdram
    • Oakheart's Dagger
    • Dannasen's Oath
    • Bloodhand's Doom
  • The following items have added or increased stats:
    • Celethlos
    • Carchol
    • Avorphadanir
    • Saelphadanir
    • Stalwart Breastplate
    • Victor's Shirt
    • Brawler's Arms
    • Bronwecham
    • Tirithmaib
    • Glossy Ring
    • Small Shield of the Barrows
    • Horde-hunter's Gauntlets
    • Great Shield of the Barrows

Armour

  • Helegrod armor can now be dyed
  • Fine Radiant Robe leggings now dye along with the robe
  • The light shields Small Metal Buckler of Might (lvl 31) and Bronzed Round Shield of Vigour (lvl 43) now have the appropriate armour levels.
  • Updated the icons for "Silver-voice Robe" and "Beast-master Robe"
  • The “Disperse Shadow” effect on Rift Armour has been improved to absorb incoming shadow damage more often.
  • Removed the tactical crit enchantment on the Burglar's Rift Armour set and added max Morale
  • It’s wabbit season! It’s duck season! No, it’s cloak season!
    • Updated the name of the Twimmed Cloak to Trimmed Cloak.
    • Fixed some grammar issues in the description of the Cloak of the Cluck.
    • The cloaks Wig-feld, Cloak of the Dutiful, Defender’s Cloak, Cloak of Ancient Ruins, and Trimmed Cloak all have new and improved artwork
  • Fixed many cases of incorrectly used icons and/or appearances for the new dwarven, elven, and Westernesse crafted armour.
  • The Hope bonus on the Bounder Shirriff's Cap has been fixed to no longer vanish 10 minutes after equipping the cap.
  • Fixed some cases where low level uncommon armour items didn't have any buffs on them.
  • The following rare clothing items have received additional enhancements:
    • Hammertap
    • Cloak of the Galadhrim
    • Silfdraum
    • High-hope
    • Leggings of Barahir
    • Orthol
    • Brechenn
    • Swifthelm
    • Faerthoniel
    • Rockscaler
    • Cafliss
    • Celebnil
    • Boldheart
    • Sterkur's Glory
    • Huntsman's Cloak
    • Cloak of the Western Sky
    • Angbellas
    • Cliffstriders
    • Ramsteps
    • Tancthelui
    • Golucham
    • Leggings of Mirath
    • Cloak of the Rangers
    • Hooded Cloak of the Rangers
    • Stanhelm
    • Leggings of Dragonscale
    • Anmédla
    • Wig-leggar
    • Gelhar
    • Togniranc
    • Thaliodhranc
    • Herodhranc
    • Thenidhranc
    • Cloak of the Two Hammers
    • Robe of the Shire
    • Stonemason's Shirt
    • Lightstep Shoes
    • Boots of Mirath
    • Gladden-guards
    • Tirithar
    • Ambronad
    • Wilg-herthar
    • Burglar's Cap
    • Helm of Rohan
    • Helm of the White Horse
    • Breastplate of Dorthonion
    • Tugharn
    • Shoes of Lossarnach
    • Langwere
    • Cuirass of Dragonscale
    • Ironshanks
    • Shoulders of the Citadel
    • Leggings of the Rangers
    • Hat of Tuckborough
    • Langstalks
    • Breastplate of the Citadel
    • Leggings of Baldor
    • Shoes of Eriador
    • Edge-blunter
    • Bog-walkers
    • Shoulders of Lossarnach
    • War-dancer
    • Cloak of Lothlórien
    • Cap of the Shirriff
    • Helm of Eriador
    • Horde-hunter's Leggings
    • Leggings of the Crossroads
    • Gloves of the Mark
    • Curiass of Tharbad
    • Leggings of Tharbad
    • Shoulders of the Northlands
    • Gloves of the Crossroads
    • Hat of Arthedain
    • Cuirass of Lossarnach
    • Jacket of Kings
    • Boots of Kings
    • Hat of the Mark
    • Shoulders of Meduseld
    • Helm of the Took
    • Shoulders of the Tower Hills
    • Boots of the Tower Hills
  • Feldskyn Armour, the Lore-master PvP set, will now appear on the avatar when worn.

Weapons

  • A new weapon category, "Implement," has been added for cosmetic weaponry. Implements can be used by all classes, but have little combat use.
  • Updated the description on crossbows to clarify that ranged auto-attack block chance is affected.
  • The dagger “Nenhigil” has increased stats and damage and the fire damage has been replaced with Beleriand.
  • "Wind-raker" has been updated, replacing the out of combat Morale regen with an in-combat power regen, and adding a Vitality enhancement to this weapon.
  • The following rare weapons have received additional enhancements:
    • Hefnar
    • West-wind
    • Bone-splitter
    • Fargraf
    • Bitbrand
    • Oakenfist
    • Frostvin
    • Dúnglamor
    • Gilnaith
    • Erdram
    • Hope-bringer
    • Jarnbrot
    • Swift-doom
    • Iron-head
    • Peace-bringer
    • Thokbrot
    • Hermit's Rage
    • Woodsman's Club
    • Greyclaw
    • Isenring
    • Marcho's Edge
    • Stalwart
    • Thunder-fall
    • Goblin-knocker
    • Hálli's Hand
    • Creeping Staff
    • Fire-tip
    • Deadly Defender's Bow
    • Southron's Tusk
    • Huntspritt
    • Thenindúr
    • Avalgeis
    • Alagostúr
    • Axe of Léofa
    • Red-hew
    • Ruin-breaker
    • Back-breaker
    • Dólghart
    • Dagger of Khazad-dûm
    • Blade of the Valiant
    • Starkstál
    • Avorrod
    • Bone-breaker
    • Dólghart
    • Head-breaker
    • Butterbur's Cudgel
    • Doronolf
    • Aegrist
    • Steel-share
    • Changer's Club
    • Bargbrót
    • Stanhart
    • Woodsman's Friend
    • Thumper
    • Ranger's Edge
    • Thunder-hammer of the Mearas
  • The Rift items Elder Bow, Rod of the Bronze Eagle (now known as Amber Staff), and Deep Cutter and the Annúminas Spear of the Bloodless have new and improved artwork.
  • The Annúminas items Spear of the Bloodless and Mighty Mace now have an additional bonus applied to them.

General Loot

  • Players can now auto-loot bind-on-acquire items without confirmation when they are the only ones allowed to loot a given corpse or container, e.g. for solo victories.
  • A corpse with items being rolled on can no longer be opened.
  • Some items “of the West-lands” were using the incorrect icon and have been updated with the correct one.
  • Rodlúg no longer drops the trophy items usually found on wolves.
  • Updated the names of the pocket items dropped by non-sentient elite monsters to now reflect their benefit(s).
  • Arch-Nemeses may drop more money now.
  • Non-sentient elites now have a greater chance of dropping some types of trophy items.
  • Loot items found on corpses no longer auto-stack on the corpse. For example: if 2 potions drop, instead of seeing 1 stack of 2 potions you will now see both potions displayed individually in the loot window.
  • Items being rolled on or assigned by a master looter will no longer be auto-stacked together. Example: If two exceptional hides drop, you will roll once for each of them instead of rolling once for both.
  • Items not being rolled on or being assigned by a master looter will remain stacked on the corpse. Consignment, mining, forestry and scholar nodes should always display stacked items.
  • Corpse and cocoon "chests" on the ground now follow the same fellowship loot rules as normal chests.
  • Fixed a bug in the treasure system that was allowing old versions of the wound-curing potions to appear in low-level loot.

Pets/Companions

  • When using the ctrl-\ interface to move UI elements, the Pet Manager and the Pet Shortcut Bar will henceforth be known as the Companion Manager and the Companion Shortcut Bar.
  • Player pet floaty names will now show up only if their master's name is shown.
  • Companions set to assist will do so against their master’s selection from AOE skills.
  • Players will now receive an error when trying to execute a companion (pet) command while mounted, instead of silently failing.
  • Fixed the following bugs:
    • A pet belonging to a player riding on a mount and in a fellowship would be displayed on the mini-map off to the side.
    • Over-zealous companions (pets) would attack a non-threatening mob when their current target was mesmerized.
    • Some fellowship-related companion tracking issues.
    • Companion (pet) chatter is no longer displayed in the regional channel.
  • Fixed a rare issue with companions assisting against mesmerized targets.
  • A skill UI issue where companion skills would not grey out when using a non-combat companion skill.
  • Fervour-related and companion skills were not displaying their greyed-out state correctly.
  • PvP kills accomplished by a pet now count towards deeds.
  • Pet Summon Skills no longer unghost when you select any entity (the pet has to be summoned.)

World

  • Locust swarms near Oatbarton are now level 27 to 28, instead of level 30 to 31.
  • Although a generally pretty cheerful guy, we've decided that Pippen is not quite as inspiring as Gandalf or Elrond, and assigned him hope more appropriate to his stature. He’s remained upbeat about it!
  • The wicked gangs of Green River-toads in Tal Bruinen will now threaten before they lay their special brand of smack-down on unwary passers-by.
  • The Dread Turtles in Angmar now warn you before attacking.
  • All monsters that warn before attacking now wait a minimum of 5 seconds before attacking.
  • Fixed a stuck in combat issue when fighting trolls that disappear at day-break.
  • Braziers outside of the entrance to Fornost are now burning all the time

Numerous terrain seams and pathing issues in Angmar, Evendim and the North Downs have been fixed.

  • A number of sickle-flies have set up permanent nesting grounds in Meluinen.
  • Numerous floating objects have been grounded in accordance with the laws of gravity.
  • A new swift travel route between Esteldin and Tinnudir has been added
  • Tyrn Luig has been given an overhaul. It now covers a greater area and offers a small number of repair and re-supply vendors
  • Turtles have been removed from the random landscape spawns of Malenhad. To balance this, new Turtle-y points of interest have been added.
  • Rare monsters in Angmar have been modified to take advantage of the event system. These rare monsters have not gotten more powerful, but their spawn mechanisms have changed significantly.
  • Fixed an odd placement issue in the Free People's Camp outside of Fornost
  • A Reflecting Pool and Vault-keeper have been added to Esteldin.
  • Warg Hunters now have a handful of static spawn locations in Nan Amlug East
  • The healer Tweggi in Vindurhal now sells high-level curing potions.
  • Ettenmoors slugs will no longer block attacks. Their parry and evade rates have been increased to compensate for the lack of a block skill.
  • Ost Guruth now boasts both a staff vendor and a useable cooking campfire near the town oven, solidifying its place as the vacation destination for the Lone-lands!
  • Whelan Appledore in the Bree-town Hall now sells Grocer items instead of Provisioner items.
  • We've reduced the number of patrolling Boggart swarms in Tham Andalath in Evendim.
  • Fornost: Monster spawns have been thinned out and many monsters have had their aggro radius reduced.
  • Garth Agarwen: A number of spawns have been removed and aggro radiuses have been reduced on a number of monsters.
  • Festival NPC map notes will no longer display when the festivals are inactive.
  • Cosmetic changes to the Dark Lynx, which will now be called "Onyx Lynx."
  • We've updated our vitals for level 50+ creatures to begin to pave the way for future content. This change may impact some creatures who are above level 50.

User Interface General

  • Quickslot bars which are not visible (because they're docked or not set to always be visible) no longer show a drag box when in ctrl-\ mode.
  • The Alert panel now hides correctly when you hit F12.
  • Your traits are now listed alphabetically when viewed through a Bard’s trait interface.
  • Long descriptions in the progress bar for skills are now truncated with an ellipsis (...).
  • The “audio options” section now has categorized options.
  • The "stack-split" dialog box has gotten some attention:
    • Handy buttons to add or subtract from the current amount
    • The "Full/Half" button has been split into three: Full, Half, None. Pushing one of those buttons puts the full amount, half of the amount, or (you guessed it) zero into the amount field
    • The "Enter" key is the same as clicking the "OK" button
  • Fixed some previous UI items with no skinning tags.
  • Added new UI Options for enabling/disabling Floating Experience, Floating Reputation, Floating Destiny, and Floating Renown/Infamy.
  • Added the level requirement for bank upgrades to the text on the bank UI to eliminate confusion.
  • Fixed a UI issue when the bug submission UI was opened while the help UI is open.
  • We've shortened the message for entering and leaving a chat channel. Instead of "You have entered the..." or "You have left the..." it now says "Entered the..." and "Left the..."
  • Map notes are easier to mouse over now.
  • The maximum ignore list size has been reduced to 200 entries. If you’re already above this number, you’ll need to remove entries until you’re below the new limit before you can add any new names to the list.
  • Character, cosmetic inventory, and barbershop panels have been updated.

Fellowship

  • You can now map the fellowship target marking commands to specific keys in the Options panel (ctrl-o) under the Key-mapping tab.
  • Fixed: Map tracking of fellowship members would occasionally become inconsistent for a player who joins and leaves a fellowship quickly.

Tooltips

  • Traits and characteristics no longer say "On Use:" in their examination tooltips.
  • The vital bar in tooltips is no longer overly wide, and doesn't have vertical lines in its background anymore.
  • Word-wrapping and truncation has been improved in many tooltips.
  • Skills which have an additional effect when you attack from the correct position now include this information in their tooltips.
  • Various potions including Fire and light oils now display duration in their tooltips.
  • The tooltips for some virtues no longer have their rank split across multiple lines.
  • The tooltips on invokable items should read much more clearly now.
  • All instances of skill tooltips that have a radius now correctly display that the radius is measured in meters.
  • The tooltip of skills requiring a material component, such as the travel skills, will now highlight the missing components in red.
  • Clicking on a title alert will now show you the new title when it opens the title panel.
  • You can now click on your mount to dismount while in combat.

Systems Housing

  • Pride of ownership! Now when you purchase a home, your name will be displayed in the billboard, under the radar, and in the Housing Info panel, along with the house address. If you don't want your home to display your name, you can turn the display off under Options->Social Options->Housing->Display my home ownership information
  • Housing decoration items now have a unique background icon color.
  • Songs in The Prancing Pony and Silent Hope player housing jukeboxes will no longer endlessly loop.
  • Housing Decoration Mode Update: All objects that you can edit via decoration in your home will now highlight and have a slow pulse when you enter decoration mode. The hook that you are currently editing will have a quick pulse to it.
  • Added the ability to rotate decorations. Now you too can change the position of your chair, your bed, even your trees! Put a crooked sconce in your house today!
  • It is now possible for housing decorations to be bound to a player. Bound decorations will work as usual for the player they are bound to when attached to a housing hook.
  • It is not possible for players to remove bound decorations that are not bound to them from housing hooks.
  • The housing hook UI now has a return to owner button; this button is visible when viewing a bound decoration that is not bound to the viewer. The return to owner button will return the bound decoration to the owner’s escrow storage.
  • The Homesteads map cursors now have proper tooltips.
  • Housing: Foreclosure letters now specify the time that decorations will be allowed to exist in escrow.
  • Added a Tutorial pop-up when opening a housing storage container for the first time.
  • Fixed a bug where deleted items would still take up space in housing storage.
  • New drops can be obtained from several quest bosses and turned in at Whitethorn's Taxidermy in Bree-town for housing trophy decorations.
  • Housing decorations: Updated the descriptions for all of the trophies available from the taxidermist in Bree.
  • Added information to the descriptions of some floor and wall pattern decoration items to notify players which floor & wall patterns are the default patterns used in housing.
  • Corrected the names of some housing decoration recipes that did not match the names of their resulting items.
  • Corrected the names and descriptions of many house decoration items.
  • House descriptions have been updated to reflect available interior and exterior hooks, including hooks for walls, floors, and music.
  • Housing decorations and items in housing chests that are sent to escrow will now stay in escrow for 2 weeks before being deleted. Previously, they would stay for 1 week.
  • Players that are already in a housing permission list can not be added a second time anymore.
  • Only kinship leaders have access to the kinship house “Abandon” button.
  • Persistent emotes like /sit and /liedown will now be interrupted when a character uses /music.

Reputation

  • Reputation gains and losses will now be displayed over the players’ heads, just like experience!
  • Reputation gains for kills are no longer divided by group size. Raids will gain considerably more reputation than they used to, while 6-Man groups will remain approximately the same.
  • The UI for turning in Reputation tokens has been changed to use the Bartering interface rather than the quest interface. You'll still need to complete the introductory quest for each type of reputation token before you can use the bartering interface to turn in additional tokens.
  • The old repeatable Reputation quests have been removed from the game. You can now turn in your reputation items at the same NPCs via the barter system once you have completed the introductory quests.
  • Reputation vendors are no longer locked by Reputation requirements (but their inventories are), and repair vendors have been added to each faction with their own, stricter, Reputation requirements.
  • Certain quests in the following locations will now award the specified faction points (applied retroactively to players who have already completed these quests):
    • Bree-land and Trestlebridge - “Men of Bree” faction points.
    • North Downs – “Rangers of Esteldin” faction points
    • Evendim – “Wardens of Annúminas” faction points
    • Trollshaws and Misty Mountains – “Elves of Rivendell” faction points
    • North Downs and Misty Mountains – “Thorin's Hall” faction points
  • Many Shire quests will now reward the player with a ”Gift Mathom” which can be turned in at Michal Delving to earn faction with the Mathom Society (again, players who have already done these quests will be retroactively awarded reputation points).
  • New reputation reward items have turned up for sale from the Men of Bree, the Elves of Rivendell, the Ered Luin Dwarves, and the Shire Mathom Society!
  • Mousing over vendors will now display faction requirements (if any) to interact with that vendor in the tooltip
  • Some quests for the Rift have had their reputation rewards re-evaluated.

Auctions

  • Auction House: A “Ceiling” and “Special Furniture” category have been added to the Decorations listing in the auction house.
  • The auction house now has a new category for cosmetic equipment: Implement "Weapons" - now you have a place to sell or buy pitchforks and shovels!
  • When you buyout an auction on which you're the highest bidder, you no longer receive a message saying that you've been outbid.
  • The Auction House now displays your post count, bid count, and the maximum number of allowed bids and posts.
  • Double-clicking and right-clicking in the Mail window now consistently opens the letter.

Chat/Social

  • The “error” channel appeared twice in the context-sensitive-menu for chat filters, and has been fixed.
  • Typing characters in the chat window alongside embedded items occasionally caused text corruption.
  • User-defined chat channels and player notes in the fellowship panel now conform to your profanity filter settings.
  • User chat-channel names are now restricted to a maximum length of 50 characters. Existing channels with longer name lengths will be dropped.

Emotes

  • Typing /yell will now have the same effect as /shout.
  • Participatory emotes like the Minstrel's “Irresistible Melody” should no longer adversely affect players on horseback.
  • You will now wield a small torch during the /firebreath emote.
  • Amateur levitators take note: performing the /sit emote while standing on top of a chair actually sits you in it, instead of leaving you floating in the air, and now everyone knows how you did it anyway!

Music System

  • Bagpipes may now be played at level 25.
  • When parsing ABC music files, rests no longer display a "Line 0, column 0" error message.
  • Some inaccurately generated "note is already sounding" errors should no longer display.
  • The "Show Vitals" checkbox now stays checked.
  • Ignoring another player once again prevents you from hearing their music.
  • The word “Equipped” will now appear above an equipped Instrument when comparison tooltips appear.
  • Crafted flutes will now sound more like flutes when played.
  • Fixed an error in the tutorial hint for musical instruments. The hint said shortcut keys 1-0 are used to produce music when in fact it’s keys 1-8.

Audio

  • An In-depth music pass added over an hour of brand new music to the game!
  • Complete EAX overhaul. Make sure to enable EAX if your sound card supports it to get the full environmental audio experience!
  • Added Music/Sound for Gwindeth's hang out.
  • Added music to the "Defense of Trestlebridge" instance.
  • Improvements to landscape/combat music fades.
  • Trolls and Rangers will now be able to hear music in session play.
  • The background music would continue playing for a few seconds when launching a movie from the movie library. This has been fixed.
  • Binding to milestones will now be accompanied by an indicator sound.
  • OpenAL version 1.1 is now live in LOTRO!
    • Fixed a common client crash seen on Vista.
    • LOTRO now utilizes XRAM on cards that support it (XFI).
    • Tweaks and improvements to audio memory usage.
    • Users may now select soundcard in client independent of control panel.
    • Users may now select native OpenAL drivers (Creative and nVidia hardware).
    • Several improvements to audio performance.
    • LOTRO now supports 5.1 surround sound for Creative sound cards on Vista.
    • Tweaks and improvements from Creative video cards.

Graphics/Animation/FX

  • Fixed problems with some trees casting incorrect shadows in DX10.
  • Improved performance under DirectX 10 when the Fellowship UI and Pet UI were up.
  • Blob shadows are much faster now, reduced overall graphics loading-related hitchiness.
  • We’ve made some minor texture adjustments to pony mounts to improve system performance when displaying them
  • Minstrels have discovered that they can sling their shields on their backs when activating skills with a lute-based animation. Shield-smiths no longer need to custom-cut those little holes for the lute neck to poke through!
  • Player characters have some new animations to entertain themselves with when they are left standing around AFK.
  • Monsters that are immune to stuns no longer have permanent stun FX floating around their heads after a Champion blows his horn.
  • Short peoples of Middle-earth rejoice! Weapons no longer grow to unmanageable size when sheathed. They will stay the same size they are while in use.
  • Players attacked while harvesting now regain enough composure to fight with visible weapons.
  • Disarmed characters no longer have visible weapons in hand while the disarmed effect lasts.
  • Characters may no longer turn in place while dancing.
  • Lore-masters who fail when using their “Back from the Brink” skill are no longer stuck with pipe in hand.
  • Equipped shields will now re-appear on a player’s forearm after engaging in ranged combat.
  • Fixed a bug with 2-handed axe animations when the player was hit while performing an attack.
  • The Earthkin “Santtu” will no longer blip when standing up after kneeling.
  • When using the various racial Return to X skills, avatars will now perform a “reading map” animation.
  • Improvements have been made to the jumping logic when running backwards, though it is not a particularly logical thing to do!
  • Your personal mount will now properly turn its head left and right while moving forward and turning.
  • Fixed an FX problem where a melee weapon remained visible during some animations that aren’t supposed to use it.
  • Characters will no longer play idle animations while in the /music state.
  • A small percentage of armor which appeared green for Dwarves and Elves was showing up as neutral or beige on Hobbits and Humans, when they should have been the same across the board. They should all show up now as green for all avatars. This only affects items that have never been dyed, or have had the dye washed out of them. Items dyed either by hand or when found in treasure should not be affected.
  • Some visual issues with terrain on High and Very High graphics settings have been resolved.
  • The lava fall at the entrance to the Balrog chamber doesn't blip anymore.
  • Improved the examination of countdown effects to include details about what will happen to the target if the effect is not removed in time

Legendary Accomplishments

  • We've updated the Legendary Accomplishments listed below so that the needed pages are found on more creatures. Instead of being on very specific creatures in very specific parts of the world, all the pages can now be found in either Angmar or the Misty Mountains on Evil Men, Evil Dwarves, Ancient Evil creatures, Giant-kind, Orc-kind, Troll-kind, or Wights.
  • Burglar
    • The Book of Knives Pages 3, 5, 12, 17 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 18, 23, 26, 31 - Found in the Misty Mountains
    • Knee-breaker's Manual Pages 1, 3, 4, 8 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 10, 15, 16, 19 - Found in the Misty Mountains
  • Captain
    • The Candle's Flame Pages 4, 7, 13, 16 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 25, 26, 31, 35 - Found in the Misty Mountains
    • The Treatise of Valour Pages 2, 3, 5, 10 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 12, 15, 18, 22 - Found in the Misty Mountains
  • Champion
    • The Tome of Swords Pages 1, 4, 7, 12 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 13, 17, 21, 25 - Found in the Misty Mountains
    • The Joy of Battle Pages 11, 14, 18, 24 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 25, 28, 32, 36 - Found in the Misty Mountains
  • Guardian
    • The Best Defence Pages 2, 3, 5, 9 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 12, 16, 17, 19 - Found in the Misty Mountains
    • A Shield-maiden's Song Pages 1, 8, 11, 12 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 15, 19, 25, 26 - Found in the Misty Mountains
  • Hunter
    • A Shot in the Dark Pages 5, 10, 14, 16 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 19, 22, 23, 25 - Found in the Misty Mountains
    • The Way of the Hunter Pages 1, 3, 4, 8 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 17, 20, 21, 28 - Found in the Misty Mountains
  • Lore-master
    • The Book of Beasts Pages 3, 6, 8, 14 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 14, 25, 26, 33, 37 - Found in the Misty Mountains
    • Lore of the Blade Pages 5, 11, 18, 26 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 35, 45, 56, 68 - Found in the Misty Mountains
  • Minstrel
    • Melodies of the Valar Pages 12, 14, 23, 24 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 27, 29, 30, 32 - Found in the Misty Mountains
    • The Rising Chord Pages 3, 4, 11, 14 - Found in Angmar
    • Pages 16, 23, 27, 28 - Found in the Misty Mountains

Miscellaneous

  • Fixed an issue that was preventing some characters from entering the world.
  • Players who attempt to play any movie from the character selection screen and then madly pound the escape key should no longer crash.
  • Locked movies in the Movie Library will now appear grayed out.
  • Your last-used character will now be highlighted when you log out to the Character Selection screen.
  • A player in fellowship who was incapacitated, then re-logged could no longer be seen on their fellows’ radar and map.
  • Typing /unstuck will now have the same effect as typing /stuck.
  • All movement speed de-buffs will now slow mounted movement.
  • When you teleport while sitting in a chair, you will no longer bring the chair with you. Shame on all you chair-thieving criminals!
  • Fixed an issue where a fellow member summons you… right into a wall. Ooof!
  • Fixed a bug with the raid-assist target window not populating when rejoining a raid.
  • Fixed /damagetext to allow floaty damage from other players to be seen.
  • The Dun Horse/Pony has been renamed Ashen Pony.
  • Pressing the left mouse button while holding the right mouse button now puts you into "move forward while mouse-steering" mode, the same way pressing the right while holding the left always has.
  • Resolved some performance/stability problems with the Intel 945 chipset.

Quests General

  • All items from class-specific quests now have the appropriate class requirements.
  • The time remaining counter in the quest tracker is now wider to stop wrapping text.
  • Items that can start quests will now display the name of the quest in their descriptions.
  • Certain quests may now be flagged as “Not Shareable” with other members of a group.
  • Certain quests will now show the gold ring icon despite being much lower level than the player.
  • Quest Tracker: The quest tracker menu option "Open" has been reworded to say "Show In Quest Log"
  • NPCs that have comments about quests you have underway will now display a gold ring icon with a blue feather inside it. If you talk to these NPCs, you might gain some helpful insight into a quest!
  • Quests that require crafted items will now show up with the Crafting Ring above the NPC instead of the normal gold ring.
  • Quests in the Quest Tracker should update properly now when acquiring items.
  • Quests can now be shared among members of the same raid.
  • Previously, in the level 45 Class Armor and Weapons quests, if you had lost one or more of the items to be turned in, the quest would not always reflect that change. We have updated all these quests to now accurately reflect if you have all the items you need to turn into the NPC.
  • We sat Legolas and Gimli down and explained to them the importance of "not breaking mezz." They've promised to mend their ways and will honor Mezz more. (Although Gimli does swing his axe around a bit, he might still snag a mezz'ed target in his zeal.)
  • We've modified Thaurlach, the Balrog's, response to Glathlírel's death. The moment she dies, the Balrog will become unattackable and will lose any negative effects he may have on him. This should prevent the Balrog from dying after Glathlírel has died.
  • The majority of Aurochs in the North Downs and Trollshaws are now signature monsters, instead of elites. Quests that were targetting these monsters are no longer flagged as recommending a fellowship, and since the difficulty of these creatures has been reduced, the experience and money rewards for these quests has been reduced.
  • Using stealth while fighting the Great Goblin will no longer lock the goblin into NPC mode.
  • Fixed an issue where the triggering mechanism controlling the Great Goblin would disable itself and lead to breaking the battle event against him.
  • Fixed a Barz and Zurm bug that caused the wrong wave of adds to spawn.

Specific Quests

  • We have added chests for all the major bosses in Helegrod and the Rift. These chests will not de-spawn on you, and include fabulous cash incentives! Thaurlach and Thorog will still have some loot on their persons as well as in their chests so make sure to check both!
  • "Siegecraft" quest: Added induction bars to the siege weapons and made the pins stack properly.
  • Players can no longer get into the Helegrod courtyard without defeating the drummer encounter.
  • The quest rewards from "Thunder in the Mountains" have been upgraded.
  • The Dwarf Dance leader no longer rushes you through one of his dance steps.
  • “Mushrooms for Rivendell” can now be completed in a Raid.
  • Added more solo-friendly quest targets for the quest "Destroying the Hatchery."
  • Minor text edit to “Book 5 Chapter 5.”
  • A reset has been built into the quest “A Leader Unveiled.”
  • Fixed a grammar error in the description for "Gandalf's Thanks."
  • Players on the "Low Food Stores" quest will find an increased drop percentage for boar meat.
  • “Blood Price” Angmar quest arc has been substantially revised.
  • “The Assault on Rath Teraig” escort quest can now be completed as a solo experience.
  • Reduced the difficulty of the “Book 1 Chapter 7” Crebain wave encounter
  • The Book 1: Chapters 1, 3, and 10 quests can now be completed by solo players of the appropriate level
  • The quest level for the “Retaking Weathertop” instance has been increased from 20 to 21. Boss encounters have been reduced substantially in difficulty, both in level and general statting.
  • “Rescue By Moonlight” can now be completed by a solo player of appropriate level for the quest.
  • The Great Barrow (“Book 1, Chapter 11”) can now be completed with a small fellowship.
  • Isferon has a new animation and will no longer clip through the floor during “A Lore-master's Will.”
  • The quest "Miners of the Forty-Nine" can now be completed.
  • The quest "Herbs and Simples" should now display a message when you pick up the items.
  • Tarlug can now follow you into all of the side rooms in his chamber.
  • Frûz will no longer go into Anti-exploit mode when dragged into corners.
  • The quest "Setting the Trap" has had its level increased to level 28, while Bonefang, the wolf who completes the quest, has had his level reduced from level 30 to 28.
  • The drop rate of Boar Stomachs in the "Well Prepared" quest has been increased.
  • We've reduced the power of Helchgam's heal by 75%. This heal is used when his line-of-sight to you is blocked and he has no other skills that can be used on you.
  • We've flagged the "Hobgoblin's Recipe" as a small fellowship quest.
  • We've reduced the respawn rate of the goblin camp near Oatbarton from 2 to 3 minutes to 4 to 6 minutes
  • We've increased the levels of all the quests in the "Missing the Meeting" quest arc from level from 29 to 31.
  • The "Terror in Ost Heryn" quest has now been flagged as a fellowship recommended quest.
  • The "Treasure in the Ruins" quest is now flagged as a small fellowship recommended quest.
  • “Book 5 - Chapter 3” is now flagged as a small fellowship recommended quest.
  • You no longer have to have completed the "Provisions for the Glade" quest to receive "The Stolen Ornament" quest in Lin Giliath.
  • The following quests from Gabilshathûr have been updated and versioned. If you had these quests underway, they will be removed from your quest log and you must talk to their bestower NPCs to receive them again.
    • Into the Arena - Now called "The Arena of Maethad."
    • Champions of the Arena - Now called "The Champion of Maethad."
    • Master of the Arena - Now called "The Master of Maethad."
    • The Northern Cousin
  • We've fixed a problem where Brudhaw, the Wight-lord needed for “Book 2 Chapter 6,” would not respawn.
  • We've fixed an issue with the "Fallen Apples" quest in the Shire where it could get into a state where it could not be completed.
  • The quest "Counting the Clutch" has had its challenge level increased and has been flagged as "small fellowship recommended". The XP and money reward for this quest has been increased. It has also been renamed as "A Dire Need." This quest has been versioned, so if you had it underway, you’ll need to talk to the NPC again to receive it.
  • The quest "Scaled Menace" has had its challenge level increased and has been flagged as "small fellowship recommended." The XP and money reward for this quest has been increased. The quest has also been broken away from "Counting the Clutch" (now "A Dire Need") and can now be done at the same time as that quest. This quest has been versioned, so if you had it underway before Book 12 went live, you’ll need to talk to the NPC again to receive it.
  • The quest "Rampage" has had its XP and money reward increased. It has also been renamed "Gaeruan's Rage." Gaeruan, the mother-turtle, has been given some new skills to make her especially deadly to Orcs and Trolls. We suggest you try the quest and enjoy the carnage! This quest has been versioned, so if you had it underway, you’ll need to talk to the NPC again to receive it.
  • The challenge level of the "Scouting the Mountains" quest has been increased from 43 to 45.
  • The challenge level of the "Giant Country" quest has been increased from 45 to 47. The quest is also flagged as a small fellowship recommended quest.
  • The challenge level of the "Thunder in the Mountains" quest has been increased from 45 to 47.
  • The challenge level of the "Alliance with the Dwarves" quest has been increased from 45 to 47.
  • We've modified “Book 6 Chapter 6” to be more solo friendly. The fell spirit summoned is now a normal-grade mob instead of signature, and you will be able to find more ancient watching stones in the Ram Duath.
  • We've modified Sorcerer Tath, who is required for “Book 6 Chapter 5,” to be more solo-friendly. He is now a normal-grade mob, and his minions have had their level reduced to level 41.
  • "The Lost Dwarves" quest has been versioned and is now bestowed from Tyrn Lhuig.
  • The "Breathing-space" quest has been versioned and its challenge level has been increased from 46 to 47. If you had this quest underway, you’ll need to talk to the NPC again to receive it.
  • The level of the "Pre-emptive Measures" quest has been boosted from 31 to 33.
  • The level of the "True Intentions" quest has been boosted from 33 to 34.
  • "The Orc-raid" quest has been versioned and its challenge level has been increased from 47 to 48. The quest is now flagged as a solo quest and the guards have been made a bit beefier. If you had this quest underway, you’ll need to talk to the NPC again to receive it.
  • The "Axe to Grind" quest has been versioned and renamed "Tools of the Orcs." It is now bestowed by Avar in Gabilshathûr and has had its challenge level reduced from 48 to 47. If you had this quest underway, you’ll need to talk to the NPC again to receive it.
  • The "Engineering Destruction" quest has been versioned and renamed "Weapons of the Orcs." It is now also bestowed by Avar and has been flagged as a fellowship recommended quest. Its experience and money reward have been increased as well. If you had this quest underway, you’ll need to talk to the NPC again to receive it.
  • We've modified “Book 6 Chapter 6” to be more solo friendly. The fell spirit summoned is now a Normal, instead of a Signature, and you will be able to find more Ancient Watching stones in the Ram Duath.
  • We've modified Sorcerer Tath, who is required for “Book 6 Chapter 5,” to be more solo friendly. He is now a Normal, and his minions have had their level reduced to level 41.
  • To prevent players from using the Reflecting Pool as a way of getting to Gath Forthnir quickly, we have removed the door that leads out from the “Book 8 Chapter 5” instance. However, you will still be able to exit the instance at any point if you cancel the instance quest.
  • Removed the leech-flesh requirement from “Value of Vermin” quest, as leeches no longer exist nearby.

Monster play Quests

  • The quest “Dwarfs in the Mine” will now direct players to the dwarf camp on the far side of the Isendeep Mine.
  • Mash can now be turned into Soldier Graus at Gramsfoot. He won’t like you being that lazy though.
  • Fires left by dumping burning oil should no longer float outside of Tol Ascarnen, Lugazag and Tirith Rhaw.
  • Since Brittleleaf sprouts are no longer usable by players, we have removed their ability to be tracked via the Burglar’s “Track Treasure” skill.
  • “Bringing the Beasts to Bear,” a quest for summoning drakes in the Isendeep Mine, has been marked as a small fellowship quest.
  • “Hold the Mine,” the quest to kill players or monster players within the Isendeep, will now advance in the center of the mine.
  • “Get to Grothum, Maggot!” now correctly states that the goblin village is to the east of Gramsfoot.
  • Old Goldhead will now talk to players while on the quest to bring him against Tirith Rhaw
  • Killing Tortmund as a monster player will no longer fail the spider escort to the Grimwood.
  • “Poisoning the Hoardale,” one of the monster play quests, no longer appears in the Tol Ascarnen tab. Since the quest does not contribute to the deeds associated with the location we thought it best to move it to the Ettenmoors general heading.
  • First Marshal Án was caught lounging at a local eatery when he was supposed to be watching the state of affairs at Tol Ascarnen. After a severe beating with a sock full of quarters, the First Marshal begrudgingly admitted his mistake and has returned to duty. After returning to work, First Marshal Án was told that he would not only need to watch Tol Ascarnen, but now be responsible for recovering the keep should it fall to enemy hands. After he beat us with the sock full of quarters again - wait...you thought we beat him with the sock full of quarters? He's a mean-spirited Dwarf! I mean - well anyway, he decided that he would storm the castle because he’d get to hit things.
  • Forvengwath, the first boss within Barad Gúlaran, is no longer afraid of people. Castellan Wísdan sat him down and explained that people were far lowlier than he was. He will no longer be afraid of you, pitiful fear-bearing players!
  • Fixed a bug in the Barz and Zurm quest that was causing the wrong wave of monsters to spawn.

Angmar Quests The following Angmar quests have been versioned as part of the Great Angmar Revamp. If any of these quests are currently underway in your quest log, you should aim to finish them before the update goes live; once it does, these quests will be removed from your quest log and you will need to start the quests over at the bestower. If you have already finished these quests, there will be no impact on your quest log.

  • Dark Raiders
  • Trophies of War
  • Bloodstones
  • Strange Beasts
  • The Drake-queen's Brood
  • The Winged Host
  • A Tenuous Thread
  • Bogbereth's Brood
  • The Secret of the Swords
  • The Lost Dwarves
  • The Arena of Maethad
  • Water of Life and Death
  • Dark Hunters
  • Dark Standards
  • The Bloodstone Trove
  • Queen of the Host
  • Raid: Bogbereth
  • The Tincture
  • Deluches
  • The Keeper of Books
  • Breathing-space
  • The Blood-bond
  • Buried Treasure
  • Bloodwing
  • The Silent Judge
  • Purification of Death
  • Banishing the Darkness
  • Further Upstream
  • Master of Maethad
  • Prospector of Angmar
  • Blood-pact
  • The Northern Cousin
  • The Scent of Mithril
  • Raid: The Master of Imlad Balchorth
  • The Brimstone Swamp
  • Oppression's Yoke
  • Stealing Stores
  • Fuel for the Forge
  • Herbal Essence
  • Pease-pudding
  • False Orders
  • Counting the Clutch
  • The Light of Hope
  • The Gate-keeper
  • Scaled Menace
  • The Beast

The following Angmar quests have been replaced as part of the Great Angmar Revamp. You'll have the option of getting the new versions of these quests, even if you've already completed the old version.

  • The Free Folk
  • Black Incantations
  • Worse Than Death
  • Ancient Lair
  • The Drake's Egg
  • The Great Beast
  • The Champion of Minas Angos
  • The Champion of Minas Maur
  • The Champion of Minas Agar
  • The Champion of Minas Caul
  • The Sword of Arvedui (all of the Sword quests)
  • The First Challenge (the entire Challenge arc out of Aughaire)
  • We have increased the spawn locations for the Ancient Ironscale, needed for the "Swamp-dweller" quest in Angmar, to three.
  • Fixed a reset issue for Gurthul in Carn Dûm.

[edit] Book 11, Patch 2

This patch went live on 6 December 2007.

From the Release Notes

UI

  • Items (like Legendary Book pages) will no longer have truncated names in tooltips.
  • Fixed a bug which would periodically cause Housing Storage Containers to become inaccessible.
  • Corrected a bug in the Auction House UI where an auction's time remaining could appear to oscillate.

Quests

  • The "Aid from the Rangers" quest in the Ettenmoors should be fixed. Ranger and Troll session play are once again available.*
  • The "Mushrooms for Rivendell" quest can now be advanced when you are in a Raid group.
  • Rift chests will now remain in the world for 1 hour after the chest has first been opened.
  • We've addressed an issue where players would be killed on entering Gorthban after the death of the Balrog, Thaurlach.

Misc.

  • Fixed a stuck in combat issue when fighting creatures that despawn during combat (for instance, trolls that disappear when day breaks).

Graphics

  • Fixed a stability issue triggered by changing graphics settings.
  • Fixed a visual glitch that could appear when opening a dropdown menu for the first time under DirectX 10.
  • Performance improvements made to DirectX 10 Dynamic Shadows.

Please note that if you are one of the small number of players who encountered a problem entering Ranger play immediately after the last patch, you may still be unable to access Ranger play. We are still working on a fix for this.

[edit] Book 11, Patch 1

Visit the Turbine-released version of the official release notes for Book 11, Patch 1
From the Release Notes
Housing
  • Resolved several duplicate or misplaced housing hook issues.
  • For Sale signs have been updated to reflect the correct number of available interior and exterior hooks -- including hooks for walls, floors, and music.
  • All types of housing decorations now appear under the main "Decoration" category on the Auction House.
  • Mailboxes in housing neighborhoods will no longer display icons on the radar or regional map panels. This includes the specific neighborhood map pages.

DirectX 10

As of the November 14 patch we are officially bringing DX10 graphics features out of Beta! Several bugs and performance issues have been addressed with this patch and auto-detect defaults have been revised. Specifically we have made the following changes:

  • DX10 dynamic shadows are much faster than before.
  • DX10 water look has been tuned. The water should no longer appear to be too transparent in some places.
  • Fixed an issue which caused some tree shadows to look blocky.
  • Improved DX10 shadows to reduce flickering when moving.
  • Fixed a large performance drop in DX10 mode from certain UI panels, such as when a pet was summoned or in fellowships.
  • Auto-detect settings for DX10 class graphics cards have been adjusted.

DX10 Known Issue

  • There is a known issue where on ATI Radeon 2900 and other ATI DX10 cards, turning on anti-aliasing will cause the 3D world view to render improperly. ATI is investigating the problem and will address it in an upcoming driver update. For now affected users should disable anti-aliasing on these cards.

Quests, Instances, and Raids

  • The Rift
    • Fixed the badly pathing Orcs in the Lava section.
    • Fixed the door in the World-eater boss room so players can't get stuck behind it after killing the World-eater bosses.
    • Fixed Boss chests so they don't despawn
    • We've adjusted the pathing for the minions of Frûz the Troll in the Rift so that these minions can now successfully jump down the ledge and join him in the battle.
    • Barz and Zurm now reliably lose the "Ire of Zurm" or "Ire of Barz" (respectively) effect when beginning combat.
    • Barz will now properly animate through his healing induction sequence.
  • We've reduced the power of Helchgam's heal, which was used when his line-of-sight to you is blocked and he has no skills that can be used on you, by 75%.
  • A pathing issue in the Book 11, Chapter 12 instance has been resolved.
  • Fixed an issue where the Book 11 Chapter 4 funeral could break. It was very sad.
  • We've fixed a problem with the Bree-land Dance quest, so that you will now be able to complete the quest and receive the dance step.

PvMP

  • Monster conjunction damage has been changed for balance; Fear and Disease were far beyond their intended power level and their output has been reduced
  • Hot points surrounding Tirith Rhaw will now generate the guards needed to defend the Free People.
  • Rangers will no longer cost Destiny Points to play. Instead, they will cost 10 Tokens of Valour.
  • Session-based troll characters are no longer immune to stun, and can now be the victims of fellowship manouevers.
  • The Warleader Banner of Terror skill now functions as follows: you can summon a banner to the field once every 2 minutes and it will negatively affect players and only players.

Crafting

  • Tailoring
    • The "Spool of Rough Thread" can now be purchased from all Novice Tailor vendor NPCs.
    • Corrected the required ingredients for the following six Tailoring decoration recipes (these recipes were previously using only store-bought ingredients):
    • "Small 'Tree Shadow' Rug Decoration Recipe"
    • "Large White 'Leaf Border' Rug Decoration Recipe"
    • "Small 'Ring and Leaf' Rug Decoration Recipe"
    • "Large 'Dragon-fly' Rug Decoration Recipe"
    • "Small 'High Seas' Rug Decoration Recipe"
    • "Cushioned Bench Decoration Recipe"
  • The critical crafted "Fine Gondorian Sword" has had its attribute bonuses changed to be more in line with the non-critical "Gondorian Sword". They now both grant 19 Agility, with the critical version granting 9 Vitality as well.
  • Pre-Book 11 versions of the 4 crafted Westernesse weapons (Westernesse Sword, Westernesse Greatsword, Westernesse Axe and Westernesse Dagger) have had their minimum level requirements returned to the pre-Book 11 values (from level 35 back down to 31). Any new versions of these weapons that are created will be level 35. All older versions will revert to level 31.

Graphics

  • Eliminated several hitches which occurred as you traveled through the world.
  • Changed Very Low, Low and Medium graphics details to fix performance degradation introduced with Book 11 for people on certain hardware (e.g. ATI Radeon 9xxx or NVidia FX 5xxx cards).
  • The Intel 945 chipset should no longer have performance/stability problems.
  • The lava outside the Balrog room in the Rift is now properly visible from greater distances.
  • Fearsome Murk-Waters no longer appear invisible under Low detail.
  • Fixed a white "shimmering" effect that was visible with anti-aliasing on.
  • Improved DX9 particle/decal/streak/beam performance.
  • Fixed a performance issue related to use of Blob shadows.
  • Vista users can use high resolution textures again.

Miscellaneous

  • Fixed a bug that was causing players to get stuck in combat.
  • Pets don't spawn on top of you anymore!
  • The Hope bonus on the Bounder Shirriff's Cap has been fixed so it no longer vanishes 10 minutes after being equipped, and we removed the effect icon from the user interface.
  • Cam Applewood now barters Fall Festival Mounts year-round!
  • Reputation: You will now receive an alert when you hit a new standing with a faction.
  • If you tried to send a second kinship mail too quickly, the mail system would take your money but not deliver your mail. This has been corrected.
  • The "Show Vitals" checkbox now stays checked.
  • Fixed a problem with the Kinship Lifespan Rank not updating properly for some Kinships.
  • Updated the skill icons for "Track Artifacts" and "Track Crops."

[edit] Book 11

Visit the original Turbine-released version of the Official Book 11 Release Notes.

LOTRO - Book 11: Defenders of Eriador Release Notes

From the Release Notes
Introducing Housing!

Houses are more than an apartment interior floating in the ether. Houses in LOTRO live in gorgeously landscaped neighborhoods, complete with yards!

  • Four different racially-styled homesteads, with distinctive architectural styles and environs. (A "homestead" is a style of neighborhood - Elf, Dwarf, Man, and Hobbit.)
  • Neighborhoods can be accessed through a gateway located near Duillond, Thorin's Hall, Michel Delving, and Bree.
  • Options abound! Up to 250 neighborhoods are available per homestead so you can settle down near your friends!
  • Thirty different houses per neighborhood: 4 kinship houses, 10 deluxe personal houses, and 16 standard personal houses.
  • Over 200 decorations to mix-and-match, including paint for walls and floors, rugs, bookshelves, welcome mats, scenic paintings, even background music!

New Areas

  • High level world content
    • Tâl Bruinen (in Trollshaws)
    • Northern High Pass (in Misty Mountains)
    • Southern High Pass (in Misty Mountains)
    • Goblin-town (in Misty Mountains)
  • And... introducing a new level 50 epic 12-player raid: in The Rift of (Nûrz Ghâshu)
    • In the far northeast corner of Angmar, the Angmarim in their desperation have opened a long-sealed door and begun mining for obsidian and iron in a place simply known as The Rift. They have uncovered long since forgotten tales and evils. The Rangers of Gath Forthnír, led by the Elf-lord Iorelen, are now keeping tabs on this expedition and need your help! This new area features:
      • 7 new Rift Class Armour sets
      • 7 new Rift Class-restricted weapons
      • And 7 new monsters!

Classes

  • Month of the Lore-master
    • Filled out level 40-50 skills
    • Better skills for fighting Undead, Drakes and Creatures of Nature
    • A new pet!
    • Examine enemy weakness ability
    • Cute "critter" pets - 8 non-combat pets
  • Month of the Minstrel
    • Filled out level 40-50 skills
    • Enhanced music features:
      • Minstrels will be able to train other players to use instruments both directly and via created items
      • 3 new instruments
    • More effective solo play:
      • War-Speech toggle stance opens up new skills
      • New damage-type instruments
    • Better buffing and support
    • Better healing

DirectX 10 Support!

DirectX 10 support is here in Beta release form with Book 11! We're still working through some performance improvements, look and feel tuning and bug fixes for these new features, but players may opt in to try out the new graphics settings. A DirectX 10 compatible video card and a version of Microsoft Windows Vista are required to run in DX10 mode.

  • Dynamic outdoor shadow maps: This is our big upgrade for DX10. Outdoor shadows will now use dynamically rendered shadow maps. Buildings will self-shadow. Trees cast shadows on players and scenery, and leaves move. This feature is intended for users running in Very High or Ultra High.
  • Water improvements: The water now has soft shorelines and uses true depth calculations to determine the amount of fog visible.
  • Soft particles: Particle effects will now fade when they intersect with other geometry to avoid harsh lines.
  • Far terrain lighting: Far terrain lighting is improved for DX10 users. This effect may not be visible yet in all parts of the world. This is also only on by default in Very High or Ultra High.

Of Special Note

  • Epic Quests: The next chapter in the epic adventure, the 13-quest arc for Book 11, is now available -- if you've completed Book 10, speak to Calenglad to continue the story!
  • Customizable Chat: User-defined chat channels (up to 4 slots) are now available!
    • /joinchannel <name> [password]' will create a channel (or join, if already existing) in the next free slot
    • /leavechannel <name>' will exit a user channel, if already in it
    • /userchat# <msg>' or '/uc# <msg>' will send a message to the channel of the slot specified
    • /userchat <name> <msg>' or '/uc <name> <msg>' will send a message to the named chat channel if you're already a member of that channel
    • You can also use /1, /2, /3, or /4 to talk in your user-defined chat channels.
  • Fear: Fear should properly break on damage.
    • Fear effects were not causing monsters to call for help as they should have when the fear wore-off.

Gameplay (misc.)

  • All recovery/cool-down timers for skills, usable items, etc. will now count down and expire even while logged off.
  • The camera position when mounting or dismounting will no longer return to its default setting. Using a mount, while mounted, will now dismount you.
  • There were some small changes in monster damage mitigation due to an increased variability between monsters' weaknesses to specific damage types.
  • You will no longer open corpses when auto-looting if the only visible remaining items are being rolled on or assigned to someone in your Fellowship.

Loot System

  • Better loot feedback: Display Need vs. Greed selections, and toggle back to /Roll
  • Roll/Pass has been re-added as an option for fellowship looting! This is in addition to Need/Greed. The default for a new fellowship is Roll/Pass.
  • We now save the last setting you used when you were the leader of the fellowship. So if you start a fellowship and set the loot type to "Need/Greed" and Item Quality to "Rare," when you start another fellowship the initial setting for the fellowship will be loot type "Need/Greed" and Item Quality "Rare."

Skills/Classes

  • Revive skills now list during examination the vital-stat adjustments that will be applied to the target.
  • Fixed an issue with stealth skills that was delaying the application of attacks
  • Fixed "Feign Death" so now monsters that happen upon you while you're playing dead will not attack.
  • Added some error feedback messages to the Fellowship Maneuvers system.
  • Fixed an issue with the Fellowship Maneuvers' display not showing what was contributed correctly.
  • Fixed the skill description for "Paranoia."
  • "Still as Death" and "Hobbit Silence" are now 100% reliable. Cool-downs have been adjusted to allow for this increase in the power of these skills.
  • The slaying of squirrels, foxes, rabbits and other sweet and innocent critters of Middle-earth is no longer considered a heroic act worthy of enabling skills for Captains or Champions.
  • Burglar
    • The Burglar's "Sneak" skill was missing a recovery timer to prevent repeated stealthing and re-stealthing. This has been given a 10 second recovery timer. (The Warg's stealth skill recovery timer has been increased from 5 seconds to 10 seconds to match.)
    • Now a Burglar's stealth after using "Hide in Plain Sight" should gain the benefit of the "Leaf-walker" Trait if it is slotted. The stealth skill will always be called "Sneak" (never changing to "Stalk")
    • Fixed a bug where Burglar skills that did not deal damage were still triggering critical responses.
    • There was an error in the amount of damage the Burglar's "Provoke" skill dealt, especially while in Sneak. The amount of damage dealt by the skill has been decreased, and two changes have been made to offset the decreased damage. First, the amount of threat added to the Burglar's target's current target has been increased by over 35%. Second, the skill damage of the Burglar's "Subtle Stab" has been tripled... yeah, as in times 3. "Provoke" should be more about directing threat, while "Subtle Stab" should be more about stabbing stuff.
    • The name of the Burglar's legendary trait "Sweep the Knee" has been corrected to be "Sweep the Leg." The prospect of a "Wax On, Wax Off" skill is still under discussion.
    • The "Perplexing Riddle" Trait now applies a mesmerize with a 5 second grace period for damage versus a stun then mesmerize.
    • Burgled loot will now frequently be more colorful. Burglar, do your burgling!
  • Captain
    • The Captain's "Cry of Vengeance" skill now has a range of 10 meters.
    • Captain banners and armaments are now Bind on Equip.
    • The skill description for "Grave Wound" now uses "real" words.
    • Updated the Captain's Standard description text to better explain what they do.
    • The Captain's Mark skills will once again bestow visual effects on their targets.
    • Fixed a bug that was preventing Captains from using Cry of Vengeance on players outside of their fellowship.
    • The Oathbreakers summoned by the legendary Captain skill "Oathbreaker's Shame" now visibly harass their target.
    • Captain Standards now show their power costs.
  • Champion
    • Fixed an aggro issue with the Champion's "Ebbing Ire" and "Rising Ire" skills.
    • "Controlled Burn" will no longer break on stuns and knock-downs
    • The "Patience" Trait and "Call of the Wild" Trait icons have been updated with the proper colors for their crests.
    • Legendary Champion deeds now state that Gimli can be found in the Misty Mountains rather than Rivendell.
  • Guardian
    • Guardian Shield Spikes will now last longer
      • "Small Shield Spikes" = 5 Minutes
      • "Medium Shield Spikes" = 10 Minutes
      • "Large Shield Spikes" = 15 Minutes
      • "Westernesse Spikes" = 10 Minutes / 15 Minutes For Critical Success Version
      • "Ancient Dwarf Spikes" = 10 Minutes / 15 Minutes For Critical Success Version
      • "Beleriand Spikes" = 10 Minutes / 15 Minutes For Critical Success Version
    • The "Turn the Tables" skill now invokes its recovery time correctly upon use.
    • Created a Shield Spike Removal Kit to allow Guardians to remove their spikes if they want to change which spike type they're using.
  • Hunter
    • When hunters use their "Track" skill, targets that are already tapped will show up in the list, but the button will be grayed-out.
    • There have been several changes made to tracking for this update:
      • Tracking a stealthed target will now automatically detect that target for the tracker.
      • Tracked players are no longer shared with your Fellowship.
      • Whenever a Tracking target enters stealth, it will cancel all tracking on that target. The tracker(s) will be notified that they have been eluded.
      • Players who are tracked will be notified that someone is following them.
        • You can no longer attack a stealthed target that you have not detected yet through skill forwarding.
    • The "Tracking Guide" characteristic's description has been updated to reflect its new limitation. Only information about non-player tracked targets can be shared to fellowship members.
    • Improved the Quick Shot's detaunt while in Endurance Stance
    • The duration of the Fear effect applied by the Hunter's "Bard's Arrow" has been increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds.
    • Critical Hits with the Hunter's "Merciful Shot" now deal 50% more bonus damage than normal criticals. Also, the skill damage has increased slightly.
    • The second shot of the Hunter's "Swift Bow" was not using the damage type of applied oils. Now both shots will use the Fire or Light damage type if the appropriate oil is active and apply special effects if they critical.
    • Fixed a bug where the Hunter's "Sturdy Traps" Trait would cause the "Set Snare" skill to drop the same kind of trap as "Set Trap."
  • Lore-master
    • Month of the Lore-master
      • Bane Flare - The Lore-master heaves a glowing orb into the sky that will detonate in an explosion of fireworks. Up to three undead will then be dazed and then mesmerized for a short duration.
      • Warding Lore: The Dead - Your knowledge of warding lore enables you to create an area that is the bane of the chosen creature, creating an area where they will take more damage from tactical damage.
      • Warding Lore: Creatures of Nature - Your knowledge of warding lore enables you to create an area that is the bane of the chosen creature, creating an area where they will take more damage from tactical damage.
      • Warding Lore: Drakes - Your knowledge of warding lore enables you to create an area that is the bane of the chosen creature, creating an area where they will take more damage from tactical damage.
      • Ancient Craft - This allows the Lore-master to prepare a concoction of magnetized metal fillings and other obscure materials. This makes wearing armor more difficult and heavily armored creatures irritated thereby rendering their armor ineffective.
      • "Air-Lore"- Empowered air swirls around your target, inflicting damage on any who strike it.
      • Sticky Tar Knowledge - The Lore-master smashes a vial of foul smelling and sticky tar onto the ground, causing an area that is 50% harder to move through, as well as making enemy creatures 10% more vulnerable to fire.
      • Storm-Lore: Lore - The Lore-master can smash his staff upon the ground, causing a thunderclap which mesmerizes creatures around him for 3 seconds and causes weak damage.
      • "Lightning Storm" - The Lore-master summons a storm which attracts electrical energy to targets that have already been coated with the mixture of materials from Ancient Craft. This bond of nature is difficult for the mortal races and is very demanding on the Lore-master's morale.
    • Pets
      • "Lynx-Speech" - Your understanding of the speech of the lynx allows you to call one to assist in your adventures.
      • "Back from the Brink" - With some careful thought, the Lore-master can restore a fallen comrade to fighting trim, reviving a defeated ally at a small cost of fragrant herbs.
      • Bears will execute flank effects when they perform a critical hit with their bear-specific skills.
      • It is now possible to change the appearance of your lore-master pets!
      • The Raven skill, "Distraction," now deals damage over time while in the channel state.
      • Pets have been made slightly faster.
      • Pets have been rebalanced.
  • The skill "Sign of the Righteousness" can now be refreshed before it ends. However, "Improved Sign of the Righteousness" is not overridden by the lower version.
  • Minstrel
    • Month of the Minstrel
    • War-speech – A new stance that concentrates on damage, but reduces healing power.
      • Call to the Elder King – Usable only while in War-speech – Deals damage in an AOE and makes enemies more susceptible to Light damage.
      • Call of the Second Age – Usable only while in War-speech – Deals damage to enemies near the Minstrel and gives a movespeed buff to your fellowship.
      • Chant of the Oathbreaker – A chant that summons an Oathbreaker’s blade to harry a foe, dealing damage over time and reducing resistance to Cry and Song attacks. War-speech empowers this skill.
      • Tale of Battle – An aura that grants Vitality and Wound resistance. Can only have 1 Tale active.
      • Tale of Warding – An aura that grants Hope and Armor. Can only have 1 Tale active.
      • Call to Greatness – Grants a class specific buff to a fellowship member.
      • Call to the Fellowship – Gives a bonus to your fellowship's next fellowship manoeuver.
      • Gift of the Hammerhand - You have mastered Lay of the Hammerhand well enough to bestow a lesser benefit upon an ally
      • Chord of Salvation – An instant cast heal, costs a lot of power though.
      • Irresistible Melody – Out of combat only. Plays a tune so irresistible that nearby free people will break into a dance.
  • Stack size has been doubled for Lute Strings!
  • The Minstrel's "Song of Soothing" skill can no longer be used out of combat.

Monster Play

  • Monster play class updates
    • Warband Maneuvers: Monster players now have the ability to perform "warband maneuvers" on monsters and players. Also, this means players can now perform fellowship maneuvers on monster players.
    • Diminishing Returns: We have implemented diminishing returns in player-versus-monster-player situations. This does not affect functionality in PvE at all. Let us reiterate again, no changes were made to the way that crowd control functions in PvE! The diminishing returns are only for PvMP interaction. Diminishing returns affect all spells and skills used by players excluding the spider's root. We are committed to getting this skill added to the list for diminishing returns at a later time.

      Diminishing returns is initially being implemented to reduce the efficacy of skills/spells ratcheting downward on a slow slope. Example: A Lore-master opens with blinding flash and the player is struck by a second blinding flash within the effect cool-down timer allotment. The new application of the skill will last for a few seconds less. This continues downward to a zero second return over the course of repeated application.

  • Players who bring their Freep into the Ettenmoors will be unable to log a Creep into the Ettenmoors for 2 hours' time. If you never take your Freep to the Ettenmoors, you can play your Creep as often as you want. Creeps can always leave their character and return to normal PvE play on their Freep.
  • Players and monster players can right-click each other to attack each other.
  • Because of the changes to monster play allowing MPCs to begin fellowship maneuvers, we needed to change the way that the skill Pounce from stealth worked for Wargs. Instead of a knocked-down effect from the skill, players who successfully complete the Pounce from stealth skill will stun their opponent. There is still a chance, on critical, for the knocked-down effect to take place.
  • Taking Keeps in the Ettenmoors will now result in an announcement sent to both players and monster players in the area sharing the state of the area.
  • All hot points in the Ettenmoors should now be functional and have defenders for both free peoples and monster players.
  • Fixed an issue with Tracking skills/items not finding free peoples players or monster players.
  • Guards located at the rally points controlled by the towers will now always spawn dependent on the correct player/monster player state.
  • Morningthaw bears in monster play are no longer invulnerable to rally point guards.
  • The fires left by dumping burning oil should no longer float outside of Tol Ascarnen, Lugazag and Tirith Rhaw.
  • Cauldrons: Damage dealt from cauldrons was reduced drastically. Additionally, the bug with the cauldron at Tirith Rhaw has been fixed.
  • Damage dealt from the murder holes was reduced drastically.
  • Since Brittleleaf sprouts are no longer usable by players we have removed their ability to be tracked via the Burglar's "Track Treasure."
  • Fear now has a greater effect in PvMP disabling skill play during that combat state.
  • You can no longer stealth at the hot point locations.
  • The spider skills for "Entangling Webs" and "Poison Spray" are now on independent cool-downs.
  • Spiders are now correctly identified as female.
  • Some spawns that were not appearing all the time have been updated and should now appear correctly.
  • Spiders can no longer use the skills "Lie in Wait" or "Trapdoor Sanctuary" while under stealth blocking effects.
  • The Uruk Warleader skills, "On Your Feet!" and "Field Promotion" are now correctly fellowship skills.
  • Warg's "Improved Pounce:" The knockdown effect of Improved Pounce has been changed to happen only when the warg critically succeeds on a hit; the critical chance was also reduced. The warg will now stun his opponent, instead of knocking them down. This change was necessary since the knockdown state induced the chance for a warband maneuver.
  • You can no longer stealth while attempting to take control of a hot point in the Ettenmoors.
  • Rangers/Trolls
    • After looking at data and listening to feedback on Trolls and Rangers in the Ettenmoors, we have made the following changes:
      • Troll and Ranger sessions will have a max number of two appearing at any given time. One session will always be present for either faction. The second session appears only when your faction is losing the fight in the Ettenmoors (ie. You control fewer than three locations.)
      • Trolls are no longer immune to stun.
      • Troll bestowers will no longer have faulty interaction with troll sessions.
    • Troll session players will now obtain the Destiny they should for retaking the Grimwood Lumber Camp.
    • Ranger sessions are now purchased with Tokens of Valour instead of Destiny points. It will cost 10 Tokens of Valour to start a session.
    • Rangers' "Fly True" has been upgraded to never miss against on-level creatures.
  • Monster play quests
    • All quests involving the defeat of Captain-General or Tyrants now properly state that you must not be defeated when the Captain-General or Tyrant falls.
    • The quest, "Get to Grothum, Maggot" now correctly states that the goblin village is to the east of Gramsfoot.
    • A text error in "Notice of the First Marshal" has been cleaned up.
    • "Miners of the Forty-nine" is now bestowed from a Dwarf bestower within the Isendeep Mine and is now completable.
    • "Wolves of the Grimwood" no longer has confusing objective information for the last stage.
    • The quest "Wolves at our Walls" was missing its objective text. This has been remedied.
    • Mash can now be turned into Soldier Graus at Gramsfoot.
    • When completing the quest, "Cleansing the Hoarwell," players would receive a message that the Hoarwell was cleansed before using the cleansing agent. This has been fixed.
    • The quest "Dwarfs in the Mine" will now direct players to the dwarf camp on the far side of the Isendeep Mine.
    • The Isendeep quest "Bringing the Beasts to Bear" has been marked as a small fellowship quest.
    • The Isendeep quest, "Hold the Mine" will now advance in the center of the mine.
    • Old Goldhead will now talk to players while on the quest to bring him against Tirith Rhaw
    • Killing Tortmund as a monster player will no longer fail the spider escort to the Grimwood.

Crafting

  • The critical version of all crafted wearable gear (including jewelry, weapons, armor, and shields) should now have the same effective bonuses of the normal version but increased. The tier 2-4 items have been increased in power to be more on par with other comparable rewards. (Tier 5 items are already potent and were therefore not modified to the same degree.)
  • Crafting recipes tied to quests that allow a profession to advance to the next tier were incorrectly displaying an amount of crafting experience to be rewarded upon successful execution. These crafting quest recipes should now properly display that they award no crafting experience.
  • Fixed draw distance issues with crops that can be tracked using the "Track Crops" skill. In general, all trackable crops should now be visible from approximately the same distance, and should no longer only "pop" into view once you get close.
  • Ingredient recipes used to process items for some reputation recipes were not available in game, preventing players from executing these recipes. The missing reputation ingredient recipes are now auto-granted to the Jeweller (1 recipe), Prospector (1 recipe), and Forester (2 recipes) professions.
  • Inscriptions now show up on critical crafting success items
  • Fixed an issue that was causing weapons to stay hidden after harvesting ore or wood.
  • Misty Mountain Silver is now more common in the Misty Mountains (particularly in the High Pass)
  • Boar intestines, used for some crafting recipes, were dropping too frequently and will now drop less often. In other news, pork belly futures are through the roof!
  • Corrected some ingredient inaccuracies in all seven crafting vocation guides.
  • Cooking
    • Fixed an issue with the required ingredients for the "Serene Stew" recipe. The recipe should no longer require "Green Onions," and should now instead require "Yellow Onions."
    • Fixed the display name for "Improved Lute Strings of Minor Subtlety."
  • Farming
    • Recipes and seeds for Shire Sweet-leaf pipe-weed can now be purchased from Novice Farming vendor NPCs.
  • Jeweller
    • Fixed typos found in the display names for "Sparkling White Gold Bracelet," "Glittering White Gold Earring," and "Brilliant White Gold Earring."
    • Fixed a typo in the word "Jewellery" found in the Crafting UI panel
    • New Lore-master amulet recipes can be found in loot!
  • Metalworker
    • The recipes, "Steel Shoulder Guards Recipe," "Dwarven Steel Shoulder Guards Recipe," and "Elven Steel Shoulder Guards Recipe" were producing critical and non-critical armour pieces with identical stats. This has now been fixed so that the critical armor pieces are improved versions of the non-critical armor pieces.
    • Fixed a typo in "Crest of Valour Recipe" display name.
    • The craftable tier 1 tools ("Bronze" and "Superior Bronze") were not set to be Bind on Equip. This has been fixed, and these tools will now properly bind the first time they are equipped.
    • Fixed typo & grammar issues with the reputation item "Icon of Heroes."
  • Metalworker and Tailoring
    • Over 400 new armor recipes for Dwarven, Elven, and Westernesse variants of existing craftable armor can now be found in treasure. These new recipes add a ton of visual variety to the already large list of craftable armor types.
  • Scholar
    • The descriptions for the dye colours that the items "Copper Salts" and "Onion Skins" can be used to create were incorrectly swapped with one another. This has been fixed.
    • Some ingredients have been updated: Ruined Second Age Trinkets and Torn Craftsman's Diaries now appear at a greater frequency.
  • Tailor
    • Corrected typos found in many of the descriptions on journeyman Tailor recipe scrolls.
  • Weaponsmith
    • Renamed critical success shield-spikes so they are more easily differentiated from non-critical shield-spikes.
    • Decreased the number of shield-spikes produced by all tier 2, 3, and 4 shield-spike recipes.
  • Woodworker
    • Critical success-crafted Minstrel instruments are now named "Exquisite."
    • New Minstrel instrument recipes can be found in loot!

Items

  • Avast! The hat, eye-patch and combo from "The Tale of the Shipwrecked Mariners" quest can now be dyed to be more col-arrrr-ful
  • After numerous Council of the North members requested a "Sage's Wristlet" that didn't appear to be in stock, Hafgrím found an old crate of them hidden away. Prominent members of the Council of the North may now purchase this item.
  • Summoning items provide use feedback when in and out of areas that forbid summoning.
  • The Special Edition item "Glass of Aglaral" now has a 1 hour cooldown time (it was originally 2-hour cooldown time).
  • Changes have been made to the curing of poison, disease, wounds and fear. Primary cures now have an advantage of being able to cure +5 level effects. Secondary Cures remedy +2 levels. The new curing potions are tiered by effectiveness as follows:
    • Lesser Draughts and Salves are effective at level 10 and under
    • Simple Draughts and Salves level 20 and under
    • Greater Draughts and Salves level 30 and under
    • Refined Draughts and Salves level 40 and under
    • Pure Draughts and Salves level 50+ and under
  • Salves are also now usable while moving. All potions/salves can be found as loot and will be available in shops. Existing curing potions/salves have been grandfathered in and will be unchanged. However, they are no longer available from shops or loot.
  • Level 50 curing potions and salves will cure debuffs from level 50+ monsters during Book 11. In a future book, if higher level cures are introduced, current level 50 potions will not be effective against level 50+ debuffs.
  • Belegrin has been updated to now increase Parry Chance by 1%.
  • The Hope bonus from the Bounder Shirriff's Cap will no longer stack with other Hope items.
  • The art for Warden's Wrap has been updated
  • There were two rings named "Coblaiths Folly." The one from Book 10 has been renamed to "Strange Ring." No other aspects of the item have been changed.
  • "The Tarnished Bracelet" should no longer show stringtable errors to players.
  • Battle and Warding lore scrolls now work on fellow members at a slightly increased range.
  • Rift reward hammer for the Champions has been renamed
  • Removed the tactical crit enchantment on the Burglar's Rift Armour set and added max Morale
  • Updated the cloak "Wig-feld" to use better looking art
  • Invokable Heal and Power restore items have had two bugs fixed with them. The restore over time items were restoring much too much power and morale, and have been brought in line with the instant restores. Also, the cooldown of the items was not being applied to the restoration amount (longer cooldowns grants more restoration.)

Armour

  • Armour rends from weapons of greater magnitude now override those of lesser magnitudes.
  • Several rare helmets were updated to fix a problem with not accepting dyes correctly.
  • The icon for the Helm of the Iron-Home has been fixed.
  • Fixed some cases that led to stacking Armour Rend effects on target.
  • The Race of Man versions of the Mirrored and Polished Ancient Shoulder Guards have changed appearance to be consistent with how they look on all other Avatars.

Weapons

  • The following weapons have been given increased or additional stats: Cuthoron, Maethigil, Auger, Rogmul's Edge, Shatterbone, Rogmul's Disdain, Free-cutter, Thunderhead, Gilnor, Longond, Bognagol, Thindris
  • The damage types on the following weapons were updated:
    • Longond damage type changed to Westernesse
    • Bognagol to Ancient Dwarf
    • Elder Staff to Westernesse
    • Auger to Westernesse
    • Hill-defender to Ancient Dwarf
    • Forvengwath's Despair to Ancient Dwarf
    • Rogmul's Disdain to Westernesse
    • Tollang to Ancient Dwarf
  • Some invoked weapons now have a separate, shorter cool-down for when they are equipped.

User Interface The UI team has been working hard to provide further improvements to scalable UI as well as additional tooltip UI enhancements!

  • Fixed alerts which were hanging outside of their drag box (in ctrl-\ mode).
  • The global UI scale buttons now behave more intuitively.
  • Backgrounds on some icons have been fixed.
  • The UI will now stay in the position in which you left it between sessions.
  • Undocked toolbars once again show all their slots.
  • Alerts now disappear when you click on them. Always.
  • Frame rate display! Press CTRL-F to see your current frame rate. Use ctrl-\ and drag the display around.
  • Your UI will no longer move around by itself when you re-size your window or switch between full-screen and windowed mode.
  • UI elements will be more properly placed for new players.
  • Changing the "Raid Vital Class Color Location" option to Name or None no longer results in an all white background for member vitals.
  • The character-generation UI now has a 'Movie Library' option. This can show all possible movies, or only those that are unlocked. Movies are unlocked whenever any character on that account views a new movie. Existing player accounts will be updated with unlocked movies (based upon previously completed quests) upon logging in.
  • You can now try on items that are linked through chat in the Dressing Room. Ctrl-left-click on an item description in chat window.
  • Added an option to enable or disable adoption requests. This option is enabled by default.
  • UI tree controls (such as the skills panel or the titles panel) should no longer expand (or collapse) the first category when clicking on the "empty space" within the tree control UI.
  • The mouse scroll wheel now works correctly in the reputation page of your character journal.
  • The Analyze Skill panel is now movable and had a small makeover.
  • Skill names in trainers now fit two full lines; no more chopping off the second line.
  • When parsing ABC music files, rests no longer report "Line 0, column 0" in error messages.
  • Traits and characteristics no longer say "On Use" in their examination tooltips
  • Certain skills that have the effect of transferring vital points from a target to the caster will now display the effect statistics when mousing over them. Some examples would include warband maneuvers.
  • Maps/Radar
    • Map notes are now better about honoring your current filter setting.
    • The area name under the radar would sometimes vanish after teleporting. This has been fixed.
    • The location name under the radar updates correctly now when moving between the various halls within Thorin's Hall.
    • You can no longer access the filter or map menu from the world and territory maps.
  • Chat UI
    • Deleting chat windows should no longer cause the game to crash.
    • Teleporting will no longer remove keyboard focus from the chat window.
  • Deed Log/Quest Journal
    • The "Race & Social" deed log page in session play is now labeled, "Session."
    • Deeds can now be added to the quest tracker. On the Deed Log, there is now a button to manually add or remove a deed from the quest tracker; and from the Main Menu, under Options, choose UI Settings, and in the Panels section there is now an option to automatically add deeds to the quest tracker.
    • Selecting a filter in the quest journal will remove any empty categories.
    • If you are in a fellowship, we now show the quests that are shared among other members of your fellowship in your quest journal. An icon will appear for each person that has the quest and if you mouse over the icon you will see the name of the player. If you see 5 icons, that means everyone in your fellowship has that quest underway.
    • A new quest journal filter has been added called "Shared." When selected, this will show only quests that are shared with other members of your fellowship.
    • The time-left counter in the quest tracker is now wider to stop wrapping text.
  • Crafting Panel
    • The crafting panel now remembers its location between log-ins.
    • Fixed a bug where the "Hide When Crafting" option in the Crafting Panel would not always work correctly.
    • In the crafting UI panel: The category color for recipes will now reset when all recipes in that category are uncraftable.
    • Crafting recipe items will now truncate and show a tooltip if they get too long.
  • Kinship Panel
    • You should no longer see players who just logged off in the Kinship UI if you are looking at only online players.
    • Players will no longer see kinship recruitment requests from players on their ignore list.
    • Increased response time for Kinship UI when toggling online/offline option.

Tooltips

  • Examination tooltips have been revamped to be clearer and more useful. I'm talking new fonts, new layouts, and new colors here, people!
  • There is now a clearer distinction between usage and equip effects when you examine an item.
  • The non-functional option to disable tooltips has been removed.
  • The tooltips for hunters' multi-traps no longer mysteriously say, "2 attacks" followed by nothing.
  • Mouse-over of deeds in your deed log is much more consistent.
  • Mousing over an entity's floaty text name now acts just like mousing over the entity itself: the entity will highlight and your cursor may change.
  • Quest categories in the quest log now show tooltips if their text was truncated.
  • The worth line in tooltips now uses the same font as the rest of the tooltip.
  • The tooltips on items that need to be activated for buffs, heals, etc. should read much more clearly now.
  • Items in the 'BuyBack' list for vendors will now show correct customization details, if applicable. These include: 'wear-and-tear' values; inscription name; manufacturer name; dye color.
  • Clarified the examination information when mousing over monster auras.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented tool-tip comparisons for Captain's Standards & Armaments, Lore-master's books, Champion's Runes, and Burglar Tools. Mousing over one of these items will now compare it with a similar item.
  • Tooltips on the flags reflecting the status of building the cauldrons for each keep now use correct "Cauldron of <location>"

Kinships

  • Kinship Recruits cannot post or bid on Kinship Auctions.
  • The Kinship Successor button is now a toggle, so leaders can now un-name someone as their successor. Demoting your successor will also remove their successor status.

Chat/Social

  • New feature - chat logging!
    • Right-click on a chat tab and choose Chat Logging, Start Logging to start recording new chat entries in your chat tab to a file. Right click the tab, and choose Chat Logging, Stop Logging to stop recording to the file.
    • If you want to capture text already in the chat window to a file, but logging wasn't on when you received the chat messages, you can right click on a chat tab and choose Chat Logging, Capture Chat to capture the text already in the chat window to a file.
    • Alternatively, you can use the new "/chatlog on," "/chatlog off," and "/chatlog capture" commands to control chat logging for the currently active tab.
    • You can log chat from multiple tabs at the same time into their own log files. Chat logging for the IM Sessions tab is per-session - you can log your chat sessions with individual people.
    • The chat log files go into your My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online directory.
  • Added new command to enumerate all user-defined chat channels. Just type '/listchannels' to see which user chat channels you're currently in.
  • LFP (Looking For Player) Want Ads are now removed when the fellowship becomes full.

Pets/Companions

  • Now when you order your pet/companion to perform an action, the order is displayed in the chat window.
  • Players can now double- or right-click a pet to attack during a spar.
  • Pets will no longer play random idle emotes while in the water
  • You now track your own pet on the radar with a little blue blip. Also, you can find a new checkbox in the Social Options section of the Options panel, to have radar blips for all pets in your fellowship.
  • Players can release cosmetic pets with either "/pet release" or "/pet releaseall" A pet-specific context menu was added to the opponent's vitals, so masters can dismiss pets without using the commands.
  • Players can issue pet skill commands on long distance targets now without the skill timing out.
  • Fixed a problem where a player's pet/companion would sometimes teleport in with their master and never move or act again.
  • A pet skill's remaining cool-down timer now appears in the skill examination window.

Emotes

  • Players will now receive a message with a description and trigger command when a new emote is granted.
  • Some existing emotes have been enhanced! /look will now have you peering forward into the distance, and /lookaround will have you looking to the left (to the left) and to the right.
  • The emotes /brb and /oop now use the correct male/female pronouns.
  • Quests that give emotes as rewards, such as the Spring Festival Dance Quests, will now show the emote you will receive in the quest display.
  • Emotes are now blocked while crafting.

World

  • Certain walls in the Great Barrow Instance would appear whole again if they unloaded and then reloaded on the client. They will now remain in their broken state.
  • Numerous pathing issues in Angmar have been fixed.
  • Certain "non-slime" areas of the Carn Dûm sewers will no longer kill players.
  • Carn Dûm Instance: Players should no longer get stuck in an inescapable pit in the Gates of Carn Dûm instance.
  • Misc. fixes to the Annúminas tomb instance.

'Town Services

  • Hithlim in Esteldin is now labeled as a Supplier, not a Grocer
  • A new Supplier is now available in Bywater's crafting center
  • The Annúminas bartering NPCs now know their leg from their chest, and will give you the armour piece you request.
  • Some items sold by Reputation vendors were priced low and have now been increased.
  • Provisioners will now use the standard Vendor icon instead of the Crafter icon over their heads.

Music System

  • Let the Band play on! Synchronized ABC songs! You can have everyone in your fellowship start playing a song at the same time. To do so, use the same /play command but add "sync" (but no quotes) to the end. For example, "/play awesome sync" will prepare to play the song awesome.abc. You won't begin playing until someone in your fellowship uses the /playstart command. A few seconds after someone uses the /playstart command, everyone who is waiting to play (using the sync flag) will begin at the same time.
  • ABC songs can now end in either .abc or .txt.
  • There's a new keybinding for stopping a currently playing ABC song. It defaults to '`' (the back-tick under the tilde).
  • Added the /playlist command. With no arguments, it will list all ABC songs you have available. You can optionally supply a filter as well. The filter accepts the wildcards '*' and '?'. For example, to list all songs starting with an 'a': "/playlist a*".
  • Chords! ABC files now support chords of up to 6 notes. Isn't that awesome?
  • "//" is now supported in ABC files. It is the same as "/4" for a note's duration.
  • There is now support for implied accidentals in ABC song files. In other words, an accidental on a note is applied to all subsequent identical notes in that measure, unless another accidental is supplied. You can now change key within a song, not just in the header.
  • Due to music synchronization, ABC songs are no longer played immediately. Rather, there is about a 1 second delay before a song begins (and ends, if you cancel it).
  • 3 new instruments

Adoptions/Notary System/Bios

  • The default pedigree generation is now 10, making it easier to adopt or be adopted.
  • Corrected an issue with the player inspection display which would cause players to show a child or parent when they didn't have one.
  • You can no longer adopt a player by right-clicking on their name in the chat tab if they're too far away.

Reputation

  • Tasks you complete for the Elves of Echad Candelleth will now increase your standing with the Elves of Rivendell.
  • When you receive no reputation for killing a mob, you will no longer get a message saying your reputation has increased by 0.
  • Fixed an issue where NPCs in Sarnur were not dropping reputation trophies.
  • Fixed an issue with the Breeland Men crafting reputation quest text.
  • All Reputation quests (even the ones that just require you to talk to a new NPC) now grant at least a small amount of Reputation.
  • Monsters above Elite level will now give proportionately greater reputation rewards.

Auctions

  • Cancelling Auctions: Auctions can now only be cancelled within the first hour after creation.
  • Crafters rejoice! The crafting section in the Auction House now includes recipe scrolls which are sorted by vocation.
  • The Auction UI is now updated to better limit the amount of numbers entered into a currency field. You can now only enter two copper digits, and three silver digits.
  • Added a "Reputation" search category to the Auction UI.
    • Note - Only newly posted Reputation items will appear in this search.
  • The "Delete" key now works properly in the Auction UI's value fields
  • The duration of an auction is now extended slightly when bids are made close to the end of the auction.
  • The mail sent to the winner of an auction now displays the winning bid amount.
  • The buyer's name will now appear in the mail to the seller of a kinship auction.
  • When using the name field to search by an item's name, you must enter at least three characters of that item's name.
  • You can no longer bid on auctions placed by another character on your account.
  • Auction posting history will now reflect the pricing and duration used in your existing posted auctions when you log in.
  • Tab key support! You will now be able to use the tab key to move between fields in the Auction UI. This should prove especially useful for setting price information on a new auction.

Mail

  • The Send Mail button should now be more consistent and be enabled/disabled appropriately
  • The displayed cost to mail a stack of items is now updated when the size of the stack changes.
  • The mail list now shows an indicator for COD mail.
  • You can now examine mail item attachments from your mail list by mousing over the item attachment indicator icon.
  • You can now see the amount of money attached to a mail message from your mail list by mousing over the money attachment indicator icon.

Graphics/Animation/FX

  • Misleading aura effects are no longer shown as being applied to the monster that possesses the aura.
  • There is now a visual effect when a player binds to a milestone.
  • Players jumping in place while carrying a palantír will now move more naturally.
  • 4/5 Scholars agree that lying down while in combat can be detrimental to a person's health. No more lying down (or fainting, or sitting) on the job!
  • Fixed an issue that was causing Hobbit instruments to appear at the wrong scale.
  • Fixed an issue with stealth skills that was delaying the application of their fx.
  • Nazgûl/Wraiths no longer play hit animations
  • Large animating objects that animate out of your field of view should no longer abruptly blip into existence when you look where said object used to be!
  • The animation for the Racial Trait Skill "Hobbit Silence" is now smoother.
  • Added animation to the collection part of the quest, "Stealing Stores."
  • Terrain isn't all cellophane-ey under Very High graphics quality anymore.
  • Terrain no longer looks super-shiny when landscape lighting quality is set to high.
  • Fixed a male Hobbit Hunter animation bug

Audio

  • Our NPCs have recently attended a group therapy retreat, and you will generally find the voice-over used by our Vendors, Stable-masters, etc., to be a bit less gloomy/angry/scared.

Miscellaneous

  • Fixed a crash which would frequently occur when flipping keeps in Annúminas.
  • Right-clicking an item in your inventory will no longer force your character to face in the camera's direction.
  • Incapacitated players used to lose the floaty text over their heads. If you have floaty text on, you will now see a player's floaty text regardless of incapacitation.
  • Floaty text now updates correctly when players enter and leave fellowships and kinships, and when they retreat.
  • There's new feedback when trying to access a reflecting pool that's not available.
  • If you're travelling on a rented mount and your client is somehow closed down, travel will resume from where you left off the next time you log in.
  • Tom Bombadil has given up running. Skipping is much more fun!
  • Players can now cancel right-filling induction bars by pressing the 'Esc' key
  • Improvements were made to the smoothness of movement of other players and creatures on the client
  • The bug involving Castellan Wisdán entering an unattackable state at times has been fixed.
  • Grim Bark, already an old and twisted tree, has mastered a new technique. Beware those who try to run from him or take advantage of his deep roots!
  • Fixed an issue where Will Tuffin would continue to spawn after he has been summoned.
  • Fixed a stringtable error message on some NPC's in Duillond.

Questing

  • General
    • Fixed an issue with quest rings remaining above the head of some NPCs after you have accepted all their quests.
    • You should no longer see quest rings on the radar for interior locations that do not have quests for you.
    • Trolls should no longer see Player quest rings.
    • Festival dance quests now fail when you leave the dance area
  • Specific Quests
    • Summoned spiders in Helegrod are now more "grounded," and will no longer spawn from the air
    • Players can no longer get into the Helegrod courtyard without defeating the drummer encounter.
    • The "Purging the Dead" quest is now listed in the Great Barrows category
    • Fixed the Malloval Quest. The quest item given to you now tracks Malloval.
    • Coldbear has become angry. You may not like him when he's angry!
    • The "Beyond the Gloaming Falls" quest has been marked "Small Fellowship" due to its high difficulty level.
    • Fixed the Arena Master encounter so Khurrakh spawns properly.
    • The reward for the "Picks for Delivery" quest ("Ancient Explorer's Pack") is now set to Bind on Acquire.
    • Ringlor had deserted her post at Tinnudir, and took an Annúminas quest with her. Now she's back, and feels really badly about the whole thing.
    • "Thief-taker's Bane" has been made a little less unforgiving: the tomb-robbers are less hardy, and the rangers have toughened up a bit.
    • White Hand Thrashers for the "Vengeance for the Lost" quest should now be easier to find.
    • Salamanders in the "The Terrible Secret of the Salamanders" quest should no longer appear instantly on defeat
    • Champions will now have at least one chance at seeing a Blood-stained Tally Stick when they venture into Urugarth.
    • Grishakrum didn't always want to come out to play in Urugarth, but he's managed to overcome his shyness through daily affirmations.
    • Directions and descriptions for the Quest "Master of Barad Gúlaran" have been updated.
    • The name of the Consignment work order for "Forgotten Lore" has been changed to "Ancient Lore."
    • The "False Wards" quest will no longer remove the last ward from the world when it is used.
    • The quests "Oakheart's Flight" and "Oakheart's Plight" should propagate to the entire group more reliably.
    • In the Book 8 - Chapter 5 instance, Golodir no longer needs any power to make Mordirith vulnerable to attack.
    • We have fixed a situation that was preventing a small number of people from being able to complete the instance, "A Road Through the Dark."
    • Fixed a bug where users could collect multiple quest items from the quest "Sharkey's Plans."
    • Misc. fix for the quests, "Wolf in Exile," "Herbs and Simples," and "Destroying the Hatchery."
    • Players will no longer be knocked off their mount after the first hit in the "Fresh Steeds" quest arc.
    • Fixed an issue with the quest, "Proving your Quality."
    • Respawn times for quest items in the quests, "New Trouble in the Old Forest" and "War-master Uzorr."
    • Calenglad is sometimes confused when trying to remember precise details about things long past. He now properly remembers the fact that it was almost sixty years ago that he and Aragorn encountered the Blue Lady, not seventy.
    • Candelleth has been moved to the ground floor of her camp, because the second story was a little too much out of the way. Translation: even after making the quest, the designer always forgot she was supposed to be on the second story and checked the ground floor instead. From Frustration springs Change!


[edit] Book 10, Patch 3

From the Release Notes
As part of the initiative to reduce the amount of spam players are receiving from gold-sellers, we have added new filtering to the /tell feature in LOTRO!

Players will find a new option in their Options panel which allows them to only receive /tells from players on their Friends list or in their Kinship. This option is turned OFF by default. If you would like your /tells filtered, please check this option to enable it.

Trial and Referral accounts will always be subject to this filtering, even if a player has their /tell filtering turned off. If you or a friend are a Trial or Referral account and you'd like to be able to use /tell in-game, you should contact each other via email, IM, or the forums and arrange to add each other to your Friends lists.

We believe this filtering will drastically reduce the amount of /tell spam our players are receiving. Thanks for your patience while we worked on the problem; more anti-spam code will be introduced in Book 11, and our Customer Service team continues to diligently follow up on your reports and banning spammers from the game!

[edit] Book 10, Patch 2

From the Release Notes
UI Changes
  • Reversed a previous change to the Auction UI that would prevent the entry of non-alphanumeric characters into the search field. You can now search for Barrow-Iron again!
  • No more crashes due to deleting chat windows.
  • Your UI will no longer move around by itself when you resize your window or switch between fullscreen and windowed mode.
  • Player and opponent power and morale bars should look cleaner now.
  • Fellowship and raid pet vitals are once again green. See? Loremaster Smith's pet Yogi isn't really aggro to you!
  • Session Players will now see the Monster Controlled and Player Controlled mapnotes in the Ettenmoors.
  • Kinship Officers may now promote and demote Members and Recruits.
  • Opening the bank (interact w/ banker) while the UI is [F12] hidden caused the bank to appear, but toggling the UI back on would cause the bank to DISAPPEAR until relogging. This has been fixed.
  • Popup UI boxes while using mouse-steer caused the mouse cursor to disappear. This is now fixed.
  • Fixed a bug that was resulting in previously deleted items returning to inventory in a state that incorrectly prevented the player from moving or deleting them.

Quests

Crafting

Miscellaneous

  • Fixed a crash which would frequently occur when flipping keeps in Annúminas.
  • The respawn rate of Angmarim at the Gates of Annuminas has been adjusted to match normal landscape respawn rates.
  • The Hunter's "Tracking Guide" passive skill was missing from trainers. No longer!
  • Fixed a bug that was preventing Fellowship members from looting a corpse with money on it when it wasn't their turn under a round-robin loot rule.
  • High level Decayed now drop Putrid Fingernails again.
  • The House of Elrond is no longer invisible in low-detail graphics settings on some hardware.
  • Fixed an issue where monsters' pets would sometimes fail to summon. Be on the lookout for more adds!
  • Fixed the issue with companion pet skills. If you keep using only 1 companion skill, it would only work once and then never again until you click another skill.
  • Added a bunch of server-side fixes and changes that are transparent to the players.

[edit] Book 10, Patch 1

From the Release Notes
  • The Book 1, Chapter 11 boss, Sambrog, will no longer reset during battle
  • Fixed an issue preventing some players from entering Chicken, Troll, or Ranger session play
  • Fixed an issue which was unintentionally allowing Troll and Ranger session players to join raid groups
  • Pets will no longer steal XP from their owners’ kills
  • Fixed an issue that was causing pets to be unresponsive in certain situations
  • Fixed some NPC-related server performance issues
  • Normal Decaying Hands have been returned to the game with a normal Beryl shard drop rate

[edit] Book 10

Book 10: The City of Kings - Crafting Summary

From the Release Notes
Book 10 Crafting Summary
  • Changes to One-shot Recipe Scrolls
    • New one-shot recipes are identical to the existing one-shot recipes in every way, except use different rare required ingredients than the old recipes.
    • Old one-shot recipes continue to exist, however they can no longer be found in treasure. Every one of the old rare required ingredients used in these old recipes can still be found on the creatures that have always dropped them.
    • The new rare ingredients needed for the new one-shot recipes can be found on a variety of unique creatures (as opposed to just one named creature). The new rare ingredients have a 100% drop rate.
    • Changed the display names for all pre-existing one-shot recipe scrolls to include the word "(Old)," to help differentiate between existing and new one-shot recipe scrolls.
  • Increased 'Effective Level' of Crafted Weapons, Armor, Jewellery
    • Increased the effective level (or power level) of most tier 2 - tier 5 crafted armor, weapons, and jewellery pieces.
    • Minimum level requirements remain the same, effectively providing a boost to the stats of crafted gear
  • Earring and Bracelet recipes for the Jeweller profession
    • 38 new recipes
    • Total of 72 new jewellery pieces
  • Artifact Tracking
    • Added "Artifact Tracking" skill to the Scholar profession, which allows scholars to see their resources nodes on the radar.
  • New recipes for Hunter-only items
    • 20 new Weaponsmith recipes (Traps)
    • 5 new Scholar recipes (Bow Chants)
  • Reputation Recipes
    • Cooking - 3 recipes
      • (Tier 3) Seasoned Beef with Cauliflower Recipe
      • (Tier 4) Strawberry Dessert Wine Recipe
      • (Tier 4, rare) Honey-roasted Chicken Recipe
    • Farmer - No new recipes, but a new rare item can be found while harvesting blackberries that is used in Cooking rep recipes
      • (Rare ingredient) Blackberry Honey: Used in the tier 4 rare cooking recipe
    • Forestry - 2 recipes
      • (Tier 5) Woven Gossamer Thread Recipe
      • (Tier 5) Treated Black Ash Heartwood Recipe
    • Jeweller - 4 recipes
      • (Tier 4) Dwarf-jewel Recipe
      • (Tier 5) Dwarf-ring Recipe
      • (Tier 5, ingredient) Polished Moonstone Recipe
      • (Tier 5, rare) Dwarf-necklace Recip
    • Metalworking - 3 recipes
      • (Tier 4) Crest of Vigilance Recipe
      • (Tier 5) Crest of Valor Recipe
      • (Tier 5, rare) Icon of Heroes Recipe
    • Prospecting - 1 recipe
      • (Tier 5) Smelt Ancient Nickel Recipe
    • Scholar - 3 recipes
      • (Tier 4) 'Scholar's Writ' Recipe
      • (Tier 5) 'A Study of the Unknown' Recipe
      • (Tier 5, rare) 'Of Mysteries Most Profound' Recipe
    • Tailor - 3 recipes
      • (Tier 4) Ranger's Sash Recipe
      • (Tier 5) Ranger's Cloak Recipe
      • (Tier 5, rare) Tapestry of Deeds Recipe
    • Weaponsmith - 3 recipes
      • (Tier 4) Ceremonial Dagger Recipe
      • (Tier 5) Ceremonial Blade Recipe
      • (Tier 5, rare) Warden's Scepter Recipe
    • Woodworker - 3 recipes
      • (Tier 4) Wood Figurine Recip
      • (Tier 5) Viol Recipe
      • (Tier 5, rare) Bree-spear Recipe
  • Improved Craft Tools
    • Restatted the newbie (inferior) tools so they no longer penalize critical chance or induction times - they now simply wear out faster than all other tools
    • Removed tools from vendors and replaced with new set of vendor-only tools - vendor tools are now unique, better than the newbie tools, but not as good as craftable tools
    • Rebalanced the durability on all crafted tools - non-critical tools now have a durability of 45 and have normal wear, while critical tools have a durability of 60 and have tough wear.
  • Recipe Rebalancing
    • Cooking
      • All ' ingredient ' recipes have had their craft experience rewards reduced from Low (6) to Simple (4).
      • All Artisan & Master Cooking recipes that previously required the Oven facility effect now require the Superior Oven instead.
      • All recipes that exclusively use ingredients sold by vendors were changed to award Low (6) craft experience instead of Medium (8), or High (10).
      • All beer and ale recipes were changed to award Medium (8) craft experience instead of Low (6).
      • Changed all three Cooking reputation recipes to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2).
      • Some cooking recipes have had their ingredients requirements reduced.
    • Farming
      • Adjusted craft experience rewards for all farming recipes to compensate for the increased productivity and lower costs of farming
        • All 'seed' recipes will now award simple (4) craft experience.
        • All 'crop' recipes (recipes that produce useable pipe-weed or vegetables) will now award simple (4) craft experience.
        • All 'hybrid pipe-weed field' recipes will now award medium (8) craft experience.
        • All other 'field' recipes will now award low (6) craft experience.
      • In an effort to increase the usefulness of crafted Farmer's Tools (and to reduce the amount of time farmers spend "watching the grass grow"), induction times for all Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, and Master farming recipes have been changed to match the induction times used by Apprentice farming recipes
        • All "field" recipes now have inductions lasting 20 seconds (Examples: Blueberry Field recipe, Southern Star Pipe-weed Field recipe)
        • All other recipes now have inductions lasting 10 seconds (Examples: Cabbage Seed recipe, Old Toby Seed recipe)
    • Forester
      • Changed both Forester reputation recipes to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2).
    • Jeweller
      • All ' gemstone ' recipes have had their craft experience rewards reduced from Low (6) to Simple (4).
      • All Artisan & Master Jeweller recipes that previously required the Workbench facility effect now require the Superior Workbench instead.
      • Changed all four Jeweller reputation recipes to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2). Reduced required ingredients for the following recipes:
        • All Artisan necklace, ring, bracelet, and earring recipes (Slightly reduced required ingredients)
        • All Master necklace, ring, bracelet, and earring recipes (Slightly reduced required ingredients)
    • Metalworking
      • All ' component ' recipes have had their craft experience rewards reduced from Low (6) to Simple (4).
      • All Artisan & Master Metalworking recipes that previously required the Force facility effect now require the Superior Forge instead.
      • Changed all three Metalworking reputation recipes to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2).
      • Rebalanced many Heavy Armor recipes across all tiers to reduce the number of required ingredients:
        • Example: A full suit of Dwarf-craft Armour previously used a total of 42 Dwarf-iron ingots, 18 Dwarf-steel ingots, and 6 pristine leather braces .
          • The same full suit of armor will now use 36 Dwarf-iron ingots, 12 Dwarf-steel ingots, and 6 pristine leather braces .
    • Prospecting
      • Changed the one Prospecting reputation recipe to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2).
    • Scholar
      • Changed all ' Battle Lore ' recipes to award High (10) craft experience instead of Medium (8).
      • All Artisan & Master Scholar recipes that previously did not require a facility effect now require the Superior Study instead (Except for dye recipes, which never require a facility effect).
      • Changed all ' Dye ' recipes to award Low (6) craft experience instead of High (10). This was done because "Dye" recipes now require 1 rare ingredient (previously 3).
      • Changed all three Scholar reputation recipes to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2).
      • Slightly reduced required ingredients for all ' Crafting Lore ' recipes.
    • Tailor
      • All ' component ' recipes have had their craft experience rewards reduced from Low (6) to Simple (4).
      • All Artisan & Master Tailor recipes that previously required the Workbench facility effect now require the Superior Workbench instead.
      • Changed all three Tailor reputation recipes to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2). Rebalanced many Light and Medium Armor recipe across all tiers to reduce the number of required ingredients:
        • Example (Light Armor): A full suit of Travellers' Armour previously used a total of 54 Boiled Sturdy Leather, 18 Bolts of Cloth, and 6 Polished Rubies
          • The same full suit of armor will now use 36 Boiled Sturdy Leather, 12 Bolts of Cloth, and 6 Polished Rubies
        • Example (Medium Armor): A full suit of Galadrim Armour previously used a total of 96 Boiled Exceptional Leather and 12 Polished Elf Stones
          • The same full suit of armor will now use 72 Boiled Exceptional Leather and 6 Polished Elf Stones
    • Weaponsmithing
      • All ' component ' recipes have had their craft experience rewards reduced from Low (6) to Simple (4).
      • All Artisan & Master Weaponsmith recipes that previously required the Forge facility effect now require the Superior Forge instead.
      • Changed all three Weaponsmith reputation recipes to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2).
      • All "Hunter Traps" recipes have been rebalanced to use less ingredients. These recipes now award Simple (4) craft experience.
      • Slightly reduced required ingredients for some weapon recipes in each tier to improve ingredient consistency among weapons of the same family
    • Woodworking
      • All 'component' recipes have had their craft experience rewards reduced from Low (6) to Simple (4).
      • All Artisan & Master Woodworking recipes that previously required the Workbench facility effect now require the Superior Workbench instead.
      • Changed all three Woodworking reputation recipes to award Simple (4) craft experience instead of Easy (2).
      • Slightly reduced required ingredients for some weapon recipes in each tier to improve ingredient consistency among weapons of the same family

Book 10: The City of Kings - Captain Summary

From the Release Notes
Overview

Welcome to the Month of the Captain. Here’s an overview and a few details of what’s new for the #1 buff class -- our very own Swiss army knife of the battlefield.

Standards

Heralds?! Why Heralds? Well, to be perfectly honest, we like Heralds, and we know that a lot of you do as well. However, with that said, we also understand that some of you had envisioned the Captain as a non-pet class. So we’ve decided to give you a choice.

Beginning at level 20, Captains will now have access to Banner Standards. Basic Standards will be sold by your Trainer, and more advanced versions can be crafted by Tailors.

Equipping these Standards will give you a number of stat bonuses. Once they’ve been equipped, using them will allow you to place a Banner on the ground in front of you. This Banner will give the same type of buff that your Herald would normally provide to everyone in your fellowship, but there is one caveat.

If you have a Standard equipped, you won’t be able to summon a Herald; equipping a Standard will dismiss your Herald if you already have one in tow. The choice is ultimately up to you and your preferred play style. You can be a Herald Captain, Standard Captain, or a mix of both. Now that the mechanics are out of the way, here are some examples of the types of Standards you’ll be able to find:

  • Simple Standard of War
    • +10% Damage Dealt
    • +10% Maximum Morale
    • Minimum Level 20
    • Usage: You place a Banner of War on the field of battle.*
  • Finely Woven Expert Standard of Victory (crafted)
    • +10% Damage Dealt
    • +10% Maximum Morale
    • +5% Maximum Power
    • Minimum Level 35
    • Usage: You place a Banner of Victory on the field of battle.*
  • Intricately Woven Grand Master Standard of Hope (crafted, crit success)
    • +10% Damage Dealt
    • +20% Maximum Morale
    • Minimum Level 50
    • Usage: You place a Banner of Hope on the field of battle.*

Standards with higher level requirements apply higher level Banner Buffs, so it’s generally a good idea to upgrade as higher level versions become available.

Herald Armaments

Book 10 also introduces some new types of Armaments. These function just as the old ones did – er, more like, just as the recently-fixed old ones do

  • Female Armaments
    • Shield-maiden
    • Swordswoman
    • Maid-at-arms
  • Other Armaments
    • Rumor has it that there may be other Armaments to be found…

Shield-brother

The Shield-brother mechanic is intended to further reinforce your primary class role as a “Buffing God.” Designating a fellowship member as your Shield-brother will allow you to both buff and heal that player without having to retarget them. You can only have one Shield-brother chosen at a time.

  • Captains will get 3 skills that target their Shield-brothers for Book 10:
    • Inspire – a melee attack that applies a HoT (Heal over Time) to your Shield-brother
    • To Arms – a very powerful, but short duration, offensive buff to your Shield-brother
    • Strength of Will – a buff that increases the amount of Morale your Shield-brother recovers from healing effects

Healing

One of our primary goals for Month of the Captain was to increase the over-all healing capabilities of the class. Here’s a rundown of the healing abilities you’ll have available, and how they’ll function:

  • Words of Courage (WoC) – This skill received some significant updates in Book 10.
    • WoC is now insta-cast. This will help to keep you in the action even while you’re trying to fill a healing role.
    • WoC can now be cast on the run. Again, this will help to keep you mobile.
    • WoC now has a 3 second cooldown.
    • WoC now costs a moderate amount of Morale to cast.
      • This can be offset through the use of other skills in your healing arsenal, such as Rallying Cry and Revealing Mark. Equipping a crafted Standard of Hope will also help to increase your Morale pool.
      • That said, standing in the back ranks of your fellowship spamming WoC is still a viable strategy - its just going to soften you up a bit now.
  • Inspire – (NEW) A melee attack applies a HoT directly to your Shield-brother.
  • Rallying Cry – No change, but still useful. This will help you recover your Morale from WoC.
  • Revealing Mark – No change, but still also useful. This will help you recover your Morale from WoC if you’re active in melee.
  • Strength of Will – (NEW) A buff that increases the amount of healing your Shield-brother receives. This will increase the effectiveness of all of healers in your group, including yourself.

Combat Revives

For Book 10 we’ve made a few changes to the Captain’s combat revival abilities to both enable us to balance and expand on them in the long run, and to bring them more in line with Captain’s response-driven play style.

  • Cry of Vengeance – In addition to providing the buffs that it did previously, Cry of Vengeance will now revive 1 defeated fellowship member.
  • Escape from Darkness – Functions just as it did previously.
  • Defy Corruption (formerly “Escape from Corruption”) – The “Escape from Corruption” Legendary Trait has been changed to “Defy Corruption”. Defy Corruption does two things:
    • Lowers the cooldown on Escape from Darkness by 10 minutes
    • Allows you to revive an additional fellowship member with your Cry of Vengeance

Summoning Horns

We made some changes to the way Summoning Horns work to address the long-standing feedback that it was weird that they were consumed on use. Boromir’s horn probably didn’t break when he used it, and yours shouldn’t either!

Here are the specifics:

  • New “Finely Carved Rallying Horns” will be available from Captain Trainers
    • These horns will not be consumed on use.
    • These horns will consume 5 Traveling Rations from the person doing the traveling (not the Captain).
      • For what it’s worth 5 Traveling Rations (~10s) costs less than the horse ride from Bree to Trestlebridge (15s).
  • All existing “Hewn Rallying Horns” will remain in game and will function as they have previously; they just won’t be sold anymore.
  • Both “Finely Carved Rallying Horns” and “Hewn Rallying Horns” will be usable at level 40 (it was 45 previously).
  • Please note: All Racial Trait travel skills require Traveling Rations as well now, so the likelihood of a player having rations on them will go up significantly in Book 10.

New Skills

In addition to the skills mentioned above, Captains can also learn the following abilities in Book 10:

  • Blade of Elendil – A melee attack that has an increased chance to critical and that inspires your fellows to invoke the Light of Elendil (a Light Damage Damage over Time). This skill can only be executed after you’ve used Devastating Blow or Pressing Attack.
  • Grave Wound – A melee attack that generates additional threat. When dealt to a foe bleeding from your Cutting Attack, your overall threat is also raised.
  • Kick – A weak melee attack that interrupts your opponent.
  • Withdraw – Lowers your threat to the opponents around you, but reduces your damage output for a short period of time.
  • Time of Need – You sacrifice some of your morale to gain the same effect as defeating an enemy and to put yourself in a Battle-readied State.

Tweaks and Changes

We also made a number of smaller changes to existing skills, traits, and more:

  • The Fear Resistance buff that Muster Courage gives you has been reduced from 50% to 20%. All other functionality of the skill remains the same.
  • Reduced the Power Regen buff of the Banner of Victory slightly. It’s still good. In fact it’s still really good - just not as good.
  • We now have new art for the War, Hope, and Victory Banners, and your Heralds even know how to wield the right ones!
  • All of the Herald skills have new icon art.
  • The duration of Motivating Speech has been increased to 30 minutes. That brings it in line with your Tactic buffs.
  • War-cry’s animation is now shorter. You should now be able to loot monsters shortly after using the skill.
  • In Defense of Middle-earth has not been changed. It remains awesome.

Book 10: The City of Kings - Hunter Summary

From the Release Notes
Overview

There’s a lot going in for the Month of the Hunter; here’s the big picture and a few tantalizing details of what’s new for the #1 ranged damage class.

Travel

Fast travel has always been a specialty of the Hunter. Anyone can learn the way home. For the right price, a very fast horse can take you from point A to point B. However, no class but the Hunter has such broad and versatile knowledge of the land of Middle-Earth—or the ability to guide his fellows on their journey.

With the Month of the Hunter, this staple of the Hunter class improves with new and improved skills.

  • Return to Camp
    • A new, floating bind point group travel skill
    • Get your group to (and out of) instances and major landscape camps fast
    • Look for new map notes to locate these camps around the world
  • Group Travel Changes
    • Several of the existing Group Travel skills are available at lower levels
    • Five new Group Travel Skill Locations have been added
    • Four of the new travel skills are learned through class quests… find the quests!
  • Find The Path
    • The bonus only applies when you are out-of-combat, but the skill is always on
    • Press the button once, and never worry about toggling it back on after combat
  • Traveling Ration stack size increased to 50

Tracking

Hunters (and through them, their fellowship members) know the joy of tracking to find just the target you want. New improvements to the experience of tracking give the Hunter more information about their quarry… and even allow them to share that information more readily with their fellows!

  • We now display more information on tracked creatures, and you can sort by any column
    • Monster name has level-relative conning coloration (like you’d see over its head)
    • The challenge level of the monster, such as Normal or Elite, is now displayed
    • The approximate distance at the time of tracking is displayed in a third column
  • Sharing Tracked Targets
    • Advanced Hunters can share the location and name of their tracked targets with other members of their fellowship on their mini-maps
  • “Passage of Nature” can now track Dragon-kind
    • Now, find your worms, salamanders, and drakes… in addition to beasts, insects, and creatures of nature!
  • “Passage of Foes” can now track Giants
    • They may not be as evil or mean as Orcs, but they can still be trouble…. Oh, and they leave really big tracks!

Traps, Oils, and Bow Chants

Ever resourceful, the Hunter can make use of many different tools wrought by the hands of skillful craftsmen. Improvements and new additions to the line up of consumable items allow the Hunter to push harder and focus their skills.

  • The duration of Fire and Light Oils has increased dramatically
    • The shortest duration oil now lasts for 5 minutes (yes, minutes!) not 10 seconds
    • Oils will now last for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, up to 15 minutes at the highest tier
  • The clever Weaponsmiths of the world have devised new kinds of traps
    • The Quick Trap drops without any induction
    • The Strong Trap doesn’t trap as long, but it isn’t broken by damage
    • The Lure Trap draws the aggro of animals until the trap is destroyed
    • The Tripwire gives you a chance to open a Fellowship Maneuver on a target (it won’t do it every time, and it will only be usable out of combat)
  • There are also new tiers of existing traps
    • Lower tier traps have always had a higher chance of being resisted by monster of higher levels, the new tiers give you a better chance of success against higher level monsters
  • A new kind of Hunter-only consumable item crafted by Scholars: Bow Chants
    • 5 new items which empower your ranged weapon in different ways—pick the right Chant for the right job!
      • Foe-finder – Reduced chance for targets to evade bow skills
      • Shield-bane – Reduced chance for targets to block bow skills
      • Breach-finder – Bypass some of target’s damage mitigation
      • Wind-rider – Reduced power cost of bow skills
      • Whisper-draw – Reduced threat generated by bow skills
    • These buffs last for 20 minutes so each one goes a long way

Bows and Crossbows

Long has the debate raged over which implement was the superior weapon. With the Month of the Hunter’s changes, we have decided to make the crossbow a weapon with consistent damage and the bow one with more variability but with the possibility of bigger numbers. What does this mean in game terms?

Damage:

  • Bows have a greater variance in damage: the highs are higher, the lows are lower
  • Conversely, crossbows have a narrower variance

Speed:

  • Bows now exist at both extremes of speed, both the fastest and slowest ranged weapons are bows
  • Conversely, crossbows have a narrower range of speeds

The biggest damage numbers will come from bows rather than crossbows—call it the power of the archer’s art. However, if random number generators hate you, the crossbow limits your lows as much as it does your highs.

If you want the fastest possible weapon, or the slowest possible weapon—both will now be bows. This represents that bows may be fired very fast, or that you can take your time. Crossbows are simple to use but are less flexible, and therefore have speeds more toward the middle range of bows.

Ultimately, you may find the special properties of a particular weapon out weighs preferences you may have for speed or damage variance. Then again, maybe you’ll steer clear of one or the other because of personal preference.

New Skills

As mentioned above, the Hunter is getting a bunch of new travel skills:

  • Return to Camp – Travel with your fellowship to your current campsite bind point
  • Guide to Michel Delving – Instant fellowship travel to Michel Delving in the Shire
  • Guide to Ost Guruth – Instant fellowship travel to Ost Guruth in the Lonelands
  • Guide to Evendim – Instant fellowship travel to Evendim
  • Guide to West Angmar – Instant fellowship travel to a safe haven in Western Angmar
  • Guide to East Angmar – Instant fellowship travel to the Eastern reaches of Angmar

In addition to the travel-skills mentioned above, we’ve made new combat-oriented skills:

  • Heart Seeker – A large damage, long cooldown, long induction “mega-nuke” attack
  • Strength of the Earth – An In-Combat Power Regen Channelling Skill
  • Set Snare – A new “free” trap skill which slows and applies sizable damage over time

Tweaks and Changes

We also made a number of smaller changes to existing skills, traits, and more:

  • Lowered the level where Hunters acquire the Dual-Wield trait (from 20 to 15)
  • Increased power restored by Intent Concentration when the relevant Trait is slotted
  • Increased the duration of the Beneath Notice skill when the relevant Trait is slotted
  • Train “Rapid Recovery” grants a greater reduction time to your recovery (from 1.2s to 2s).
  • Normalized the “Focus” point costs of skills, Rain of Arrows went from 4 to 3, Merciful Shot went from 5 to 6
  • Reduced the frequency that the “Enduring Precision” trait allows you to gain Focus pips from one every 5 seconds to one every 10 seconds
  • Some traveling skills now require more rations than others. Traveling to Angmar is a more perilous and taxing journey than visiting the Shire!
  • Updated category listings in the Auction House to put “Oils and Chants” in a category under class items, also moved the “Traps” category under the class items group
  • Placing a crafted trap whose effect breaks on damage will now disable the Hunter’s auto-attack to help avoid freeing newly trapped targets!

Book 10: The City of Kings - Part 1

From the Release Notes
New Area : Annúminas!
  • The main theme in the area is one of battle over the ruins of the past. The Rangers are far out-numbered by Angmar and its troops. The players are coming to help turn the tides in this struggle.
  • The area around Annúminas is full of rolling green hills and fields, leading the edge of Lake Evendim (Nenuial). Upon the banks of Nenuial lies the ruined city of Annúminas, long abandoned by the Men of Arnor in the days of Amlaith, who moved the seat of power from Annúminas to Fornost.
  • The city of Annúminas was one of the greatest achievements of the Men of Westernesse, built during the reign of Elendil. Great works of architecture spanned the city across multiple levels, though nearly three-thousand years of weather and abandonment have left much of it in ruin. Where once were beautiful gardens and tall spires now are pools of filth and decay and jagged ruined towers.

Monster play enhancements and new quests

  • Play as a Troll
  • Play as a Ranger
  • Play as a Chicken
  • Gain powerful new keep defenses
  • Gain allies in keep assaults

New content:

  • Three new Annúminas instances
  • New Ered Luin reputation Dungeon
  • New Barrow Downs reputation Dungeon
  • More integrated Events: Ettenmoors Events, Annúminas Events (three)
  • More special game Events: Trestlebridge Invasion, Ost Guruth Invasion, Tale of the Shipwrecked Mariners
  • New Ettenmoors quests
  • New Annúminas quests

New Areas:

  • 6 Instances, 2 Public Dungeons, Annúminas Ruins Landscape

Quests:

  • ~24 new Ettenmoors landscape quests
  • 8 new Session Play quests
    • 2 types of Troll play quests
    • 2 types of Ranger play quests
    • 4 Chicken quests
  • 30 new Annúminas landscape and dungeon quests
  • 14 quest Epic Book 10 arc
  • 16 new side quests
  • 4 new Hunter Class quests
  • 39 new reputation quests
  • 7 new reputation vector quests

Classes

  • Hunter Revamp
    • Additional Skills to round out the Hunter's non-combat skills
    • Improved single target DPS
    • More Traps
    • Tracking Improvements
    • New Travel skills
  • Captain Revamp
    • Additional skills to boost the Captain's combat variety.
    • Banner Standards (instead of Herald)
    • Improvements to Herald appearance
    • Defensive Targeting

Keep Siege Enhancements

  • Monster Play Events (numerous events open and close based on keep/POI ownership)
  • Players can gain access to new keep defenses such as murder holes, arrow traps, and area of effect buffs.
  • Both attacking and defending players have more option to call on the aid of ‘allies' as reinforcements.

Easy access to Monster Play

  • Players can now enter as monster players directly from the character selection screen. No need to even log in as a player!

Reputation System

  • Reputation can be earned with a number of factions in the game, each of which has its own set of unlocked rewards associated with it. The main rewards are vendor items, with secondary awards including access to a Reputation Lodge, and possible access to additional quest lines or dungeon spaces.
  • Each Reputation is based in a particular hub, and has a specific set of trophies and crafting recipes associated with it.
  • Reputation is earned primarily through Trophy drop turn-ins from landscape mobs, Crafting turn-ins, and in some cases via kills inside instances. In the case of trophy drops and crafted items, these are converted into reputation gains via turn-in quests available at the hub representing the faction.
  • The Reputation system enables players to earn positive and negative standing with races/groups/affiliations based off of both monster kills and quest completion.
  • The factions in Book 10 are:
    • Elves of Rivendell: The Elves of Rivendell have a great many matters of concern, but the aspect that the faction itself deals with is the recent intrusion of a group of hill-men and Angmarim who claim to be ancestors of the ancient kingdom of Rhudaur, and have moved into the ruins discovered in the Trollshaws and the Misty Mountains.
      • The Elves have no interest in seeing Angmar reconstruct its corrupt proxy kingdom from the wars of old, and are working to expel these unwanted intruders from the edges of their domain.
    • The Council of the North (Angmar): A small alliance of elite warriors and scholars who have taken their fight into the belly of the beast of Angmar, either out of necessity or great personal sacrifice & bravery.
      • This group is composed of rebel Angmarim Hill-men, Elves, Dwarves and Rangers. They fight not to assault Carn Dum directly, but to disrupt their war machine by launching attacks on their supply trains, gathering intelligence on their movements, and killing important personages when the opportunity arises.
    • Rangers of Esteldin: The Rangers of Esteldin stand athwart the main path of the advancing armies of Angmar, as such they are constantly making sorties against the orcish forces that have invaded the Northdowns.
      • They also wish to strike further afield, at the forces encamped in Fornost, and at the staging grounds in the Eastern Sulfer Swamps, and will support adventurers and warriors who are willing to take these dreadful risks.
      • Wardens of Annúminas are a specific branch of the Rangers who have long been tasked with protecting the ruined city of Annúminas, and the tombs of their ancestors from looters, robbers and other enemies of that ilk.
      • Recently they have become overwhelmed by the influx of bandits and the intrusion of powerful forces backed by Angmar into the city of Annúminas itself, and they are desperate for aid from any quarter that might help them dislodge the invaders from the city they have been sworn to defend.
    • The Longbeards of Thorin's Hall have had a relatively quiet existence since the expulsion of the Dourhands from Thorin's Hall. The recent discovery of the Dourhand's ancient city, renamed anew Sarnur, has caused many of the Longbeards concern.
      • With the blood-price set against the Dourhands not yet repaid, the Longbeards of Thorin's Hall are loathe to let the Dourhands begin construction on a fortified stronghold so near to their city.
    • The Men of Bree have recently had their peaceful existence disturbed by Black Riders, upsetting the quiet town and driving off animals. But trouble in Bree town is not the only thing that was stirred up. The captain of the Ringwraiths himself traveled to the barrow downs and began awakening things that should have remained sleeping.
    • The Mathom Society (Hobbits): The Hobbits of the shire enjoy many fine leisure activities when they are not so busy eating or growing food. One such activity is the collection of Mathoms, items that hobbits have no particular use for but hold onto anyway.
    • The Mathom Society are a group of hobbits dedicated to the collection of such items, and they scour the countryside in search of new items to add to their collection, when they aren't busy planning a mathom society dinner that is!

Barter System

  • Players can use certain trophy drops to "purchase" cool new items. For example, a player visits a bartering NPC and sees, through vendor style UI, that this NPC will trade goods for trophies, coin, destiny points or a combination thereof. Action picker dialogue explains where the player can find the corresponding trophies and items for barter; bartering with an NPC is gated by reputation usage restriction. If a player has no trophies needed to barter, the rewards display but are grayed out.

Of Special Note

UI Scaling: Rejoice! Dry your squinting eyes, use that maximum resolution, and take your nose off the screen. UI scaling is here! There are a lot of new sliders in the UI Settings page of the options panel. Drag one and watch your excitement grow (or shrink)!

Level Challenge Ratings: All landscape and dungeons in the game now have a level challenge rating associated with them. If you enter a location that you do not meet the challenge rating for, the radar and billboard feedback for that area will be red. Players that are significantly below the challenge rating for an area or dungeon will now find monsters in those locations much more aggressive. Players that are significantly below the challenge rating for an area or dungeon will now be sent to their Map Home location upon defeat.

Expanded Vault Space: The vault can now be expanded, at a cost. The vault now has a number of locked bag slots that can be opened if you have achieved a certain level and have enough money, but will give you an additional 15 slots each time you upgrade!

Roleplaying Chat Channel: A new chat channel has been introduced to brighten the day of all of you role-players out there. Tired of OOC? Turn on the RP filter and type to your fellow RPers with /rpc! Like other public channels, the Roleplaying channel is regional.

Raid Locks: Raid locks are based on the leader now. The leader's raid lock must be equal to or greater then anyone elses in the raid. If his is not then the group **temporarily** will have to lend control to the highest lock (or one of is a few are equal) and then have someone enter the instance. This is because we now want the locks to meld together, and the easiest and less computational way is to pick a pivot point without computation... leader!

So, the leader's lock will dictate the raid lock and everyone will meet it if they can. Only subsets will be allowed. Ex1: Leader: 1, 3, 5 locks Fellow1: 1, 5 locks Fellow2: 1, 2, 3 This will fail because Fellow2 is not a valid subset of the leaders Ex2: Leader: 1, 3, 5 locks Fellow1: 1, 5 locks Fellow2: none This will succeed because Fellow1 has a valid subset and can inherit lock 3 now... Fellow2 will be automatically promoted since he has 0 for a lock tag.

Monster player Tribes: Monster Players may now create Tribes! See the Tribe Scrivener in Gramsfoot to buy your Charter. Please note: any tribes with less than 6 players will be disbanded (following the same rules as Player Kinships).

Crafting: Crafting has had a major pass and lots of tweaks! Jewellers can now make earrings and bracelets, for a total of 72 new jewellery pieces and 38 new recipes. Additionally there were lots of new recipes added for Hunter-only items, like Traps and Bow Chants. See the Crafting section for more details, and for an overview, please see this post.

In-game clock: The in-game day time indicator has been updated to have more gradations to the day. Each in-game day is now broken up into the following segments: Day: Dawn - Morning - Noon - Afternoon Dusk Night: Gloaming - Evening - Midnight - Late Watches - Foredawn. By breaking the day up in this fashion, you can better tell what part of the in-game day you are currently in.

But I want a pony!: If you have completed the "Proving Your Quality" race and have purchased a mount by accident that you do not want or cannot use, you are now in luck! Horse-master Éogar has a quest that allows you to swap your mount for a receipt that can be used to purchase a different mount. Once you have your receipt from Éogar, speak to Cam Applewood, Éogar's stablehand, to select a different mount.

Toggle Skills While Mounted: The following toggle skills will now remain active when mounted:

  • Burglar: Track Treasure
  • Champion: Glory, Fervour
  • Guardian: Guardian's Threat, Guardian's Parry, Guardian's Defence
  • Hunter: Stance Precision, Stance Strength, Stance Endurance
  • Common Skills: Track Mines, Track Crops, Track Wood, Track Artifacts

Emotes: We've added 40 new emotes! /clap

User Interface: The UI team has been hard at work with more UI fixes and improvements!

Are we there yet? By popular demand, the "Return to Hobbiton" race trait has been changed to "Return to Michel Delving" (and that's exactly what it does!)

Holly Hornblower: The quest "A True Friend of Holly Hornblower" was not giving players the pie recipe when selected as a quest reward. Players who already have the pie recipe could not take it from their bank or learn the recipe. The recipe should now be usable and removable from the bank. If you previously completed the quest please talk to Holly again to get the Pie Recipe if you were unable to get it before.

Easier to play with your friends: Players can now use the quest NPC to join their fellowship in a private encounter once they accept all available quests from the NPC. For example, if someone in your fellowship has started the Weathertop Instance but you have not done any of the quests, once you accept the first quest from Candaith, you will get the option to enter the Weathertop Instance with your fellowship.

Book 10: The City of Kings - Part 2

From the Release Notes
Gameplay (misc.)
  • Mounted Movement Speed will now be slowed by falling injuries
  • Falling while riding a horse no longer causes you to dismount.
  • High End Fellowship Maneuvers have been rebalanced. This includes a change to the high end, which reduces their effectiveness by 35% for damage dealing maneuvers
  • Healing and Power maneuvers have been reduced by about 20%.
  • Improved responsiveness of vital regeneration, especially with regards to the effects of food and entering or exiting combat.
  • Fixed an issue with raid locks not saving on the instance correctly.
  • Fixed the issue with pets failing to attack when ordered to.

Loot System

  • Need and Greed rolls will now be shown to the rest of the fellowship.
  • When only one party member rolls on an item, we no longer display all of the other rolls.
  • Switching the looting type to Master looter no longer resets the loot quality to None

Skills/Classes

  • Removed the Parry, Block, and Evade disabling from Wounds. These have been replaced with percentage debuffs to each avoidance chance. We moved the Parry debuff from the "Injury" debuff and put it on a new wound debuff called "Laceration". This effect lasts 10/20/30s just like the Wounds which debuff Block and Evade. Additionally, all these effects (and other Poison, Disease, and Fear effects) have a periodic chance to be resisted after application. Get those resistance chances higher!

Champion

  • Champion Shoot skill no longer costs 1 copper to train. Cost has been increased to 40 silver.

Lore-master

  • The Lore-master "lore" skills (Fire-, Wind- and Herb-lore) will now stack with each other. A monster cannot have more than one copy of any particular debuff, but can have all 3. A Lore-master can only maintain one such lore skill, so to have all 3 on one monster will require 3 Lore-masters.
  • Added a reset to the L15 Lore-master quest that will shut down the instance once the Goblin-champions arrive -- this should be a little more forgiving for those poor, undefeated Lore-masters who stumble into Benton Oakes's library, never suspecting that L30 goblins lurk just behind one of the walls.
  • Fixed an issue with the Visual Fx for Test of Will that was preventing them from playing properly.
  • Fixed several race conditions that were allowing the vfx of the Ent for the skill March of the Ents to remain occasionally.
  • Fixed an issue with Wisdom of the Council for Elf Male & Female Lore-masters not delivering the effect until the end of the animation. They will now apply the effect when the staff hits the ground.

Guardian

  • Associated fellowship skill "To the King's" knockdown will now last a full 7 seconds
  • The trait "Improved Vexing Blow" now clearly indicates you can hit two additional targets
  • The "Overwhelm" skill now properly describes that it can stun on a critical hit
  • The "Stamp" skill will now fire off as soon as the previous attack animation finishes. Previously it would wait for the combat action delay to expire before firing.
  • The "Shield-blow" skill will now properly apply the Taunt FX when used
  • Shield Spike Durations have been increased
  • Guardian's Pledge will no longer play a hit FX when used.

Hunter

The Hunter class had a significant amount of work done on it in Book 10. For a write-up on the changes, please see Release 2007-08-17 (Hunter). Other changes:

  • The Hunter class quest jewelry item "Earrings of Discovery" has had its melee critical chance changed to ranged critical chance.
  • Hunter Traps will now appear properly when the Hunter has the Sturdy Trap trait equipped
  • Hunters should no longer have arrows left in their hands after failed inductions
  • Hunters will have fire and light arrows on their bows when using fire and light oil.
  • Hunter animations were re-worked for bow and crossbows. They should feel faster and more responsive now.

Captain

The Captain class had a significant amount of work done on it in Book 10. For a write-up on the changes, please see Release 2007-08-17 (Captain)

Minstrel

  • The Minstrel can now initiate his "Noble Cause" skill more quickly--immediately after the previous skill completes!
  • The minstrel's "Song of the Hopeful Heart" will more accurately convey the range of its aura to players.
  • For players having trouble (very rarely) with the minstrel class quest ("A Song for the Company"), this is now fixed.

Burglar

  • The Burglar's Counter Defence debuff no longer completely disables a target's avoidance chances. Instead, it applies a percentage reduction to avoidance chance. In most cases, this will amount to a complete negation of the target's avoidance chance. Still, like the change to Wound debuffs, it allows special buffs or circumstances to overcome the debuff.

Traits/Titles/Deeds

  • Deed UI
    • The Deed Log will now properly remove deeds that are completed while Show Completed is unchecked and the Log is open.
    • Fixed a bug in the Deed Log which would prevent Destiny Rewards from being displayed.
    • Completed deeds which were selected now correctly leave your deed log.
  • Dropping a trait into an incorrect slot type will not unslot an existing trait in that slot.
  • Kills in Dwaling and Oatbarton will now count towards Shire Deeds
  • Fixed Knowledge of the Past Deed so that it will advance properly when the Power and Wisdom trait is slotted.
  • Slayer deeds of level 20+ will require less kills to complete.
  • Renamed passive critical hit traits to reflect what type of attacks they buff.
  • The descriptive tooltips of the racial skill buffs was improved. (No gameplay change.)
  • Changed the 4 traits that give Hunter skills +ranged crit into generic +ranged crit.
  • Increased the duration of the "Improved Beneath Notice" with the trait from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
  • Made "Beneath Notice" castable while moving.
  • On your character journal's trait page, virtues now have all their ranks shown as boxes. These boxes are filled for ranks you have achieved. Each one has a tooltip for what the virtue does at that rank. Enchanted ranks are shown as green.
  • Dragging traits around with a bard looks a little nicer.
  • Any time a player accepts a Trait configuration change at a Bard, any items they are no longer allowed to equip as a result of the changes will be unequipped immediately.
  • Racial "Return to" traits now require 1 travelling ration per use (Added 8/20)

Monster Play

Book 10 has plenty of changes for monster players, including new systems like keep defenses and being able to call powerful reinforcements. For an overview of all of the changes, please see Allan Maki's dev diary.

  • You can now access monster play from the character selection screen once you have a character that has reached level 10.
  • Monster players will now log back in where they logged out (instead of always logging in at their home base)
  • In the monster play select UI, the Blackarrow and the Warleader now have different appearances.
  • Maps rewarded for the different locations in monster play now have different locations and cooldown timers. All crude maps retain their 30 minute cooldown and share the same usage with each other. Poor maps now have a 15 minute timer and share the same usage restrictions as each other. All Good maps have individual usage restrictions and 5 minute usage timers.
  • Monster guards at the resurrection circles throughout the Ettenmoors are now immune to fear.
  • Gorgoris, Mazauk and Uzulthrang grew tired of the Free People storming through the Ettenmoors and have lowered their standards and requirements to enter the fray.
  • The Krahjarn Felarrow guards assigned to protect the captured rally points of monster players are meant to be fearsome, not fearful. Now, they are immune to effects which make them run in fear.
  • Dwarves and Goblins throughout the Ettenmoors now have a better chance of dropping Isendeep Ore.
  • It was discovered that Free Peoples were stealing brittleaf seed from the Little Folk in Hoarhallow. You should be ashamed of yourselves, the Little Folk are your friends! Players will no longer be able to loot brittleleaf seeds.
  • Gasham and Bok, the two leaders of the Snowreap Goblin tribe at Grothum have been eating their Wheaties!
  • Tokens of Valour earned for the glory of the Free People now stack to 25. The items are still used in various quests and can also be used to obtain the keys for the reward chests at Glân Vraig.
  • Map notes depicting the control of the important battle locations in the Ettenmoors now display dynamically at the correct locations.
  • There are now three levels of reward chest available for players in Glân Vraig, each has a different appearance and an increasingly better chance at dropping top tier loot. These include raid and normal set pieces.
  • Humanoids sworn to the service of the Free People or Angmar's Army will now drop Shattered Blades or Barrels of Oil more frequently. This is to augment new quests in the Ettenmoors.
  • Guards located at the rally points controlled by the towers will now always spawn dependent on the correct player/monster player state.
  • Orcs invading Gabilsathur as part of the raid event in that area will no longer drop loot.
  • All quests involving the defeat of Captain-General or Tyrants now properly state that you must not be defeated when the Captain-General or Tyrant falls.
  • The duration of the Orc Reaver's Sundering Blow armor debuff has increased from 15s -> 20s
  • Monster players will see the correct ring for pending quests instead of the Player ring.

Crafting

TONS of changes to the crafting system! For a more nutshell view, please see this post on the LOTRO forums: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=84099

General

  • Fixed the inscription name length to allow the full 32 characters, as per the edit box.
  • The "Flawed Spider Eye" trophy drop was not flagged as a crafting component. This is now fixed.
  • The "Skybreaker's Scale" trophy drop did not state in it' description that the item is used in crafting. This is now fixed.
  • The woodworking recipe, "Campfire Materials Recipe" has been removed from the woodworking profession and added to the cooking profession. Any existing "Campfire Materials Recipe" scrolls will now grant the cooking recipe instead of the old woodworking recipe.
  • One-shot recipe changes
    • New one-shot recipes are now in. The new recipes are identical to the existing one-shot recipes in every way, save one: the new recipes use different rare required ingredients than the old recipes.
    • Old one-shot recipes continue to exist, however they can no longer be found in treasure. Every one of the old rare required ingredients used in these old recipes can still be found on the creatures that have always dropped them. Players in possession of existing one-shot recipes and rare ingredients will find that nothing has changed with these items.
    • The new rare ingredients needed for the new one-shot recipes can be found on a variety of unique creatures (as opposed to just one named creature). Players should find that they have many more options available to them when looking for a specific rare ingredient.
    • The new rare ingredients have a 100% drop rate. This means that when you find a named creature that is known to drop a rare required ingredient, it will always drop that ingredient.
    • Added "(Old)" to the display names of previously existing one-shot (or one use) recipes to differentiate them from new one-shot recipes.
  • Fixed a typo in the description of "Delicate White Tree Mould."
  • All crafted instruments are now "Bind on Equip"
  • When reading a recipe scroll, the character will no longer perform the "kneeling down" animation, and the induction bar will now state, "Reading..."
  • Crafting recipes tied to quests that allow a profession to advance to the next tier were incorrectly displaying an amount of crafting experience to be rewarded upon successful execution. These crafting quest recipes should now properly display that they award no crafting experience.
  • Changed Rich nodes to always give out at least 3 resources. Coal can now sometimes be found from rich nodes.
  • Heavy Branches now have a chance of producing kindling material.
  • Rich metal resources will always produce at least 3 ore with a maximum of 5. Heavy branches will always produce 3 branches with a maximum of 6.
  • Level 13-17 bears and boars now drop medium hides. In fact, all monsters that drop hides should be dropping medium hides at those levels.
  • Resources will no longer spawn in instances.
  • Haudh Iarchith now has scholar resources.

Craft Tools

  • "Inferior" crafting tools no longer apply penalties to critical chances or induction durations
  • Tools sold by vendors are now different from other tools; tools produced by apprentice metalsmiths can no longer be purchased from vendors
  • All tools produced by metalsmiths now add bonuses to critical chances and induction durations. In addition, non-critical success tools now have a sturdiness rating of "Normal," while critical success tools (Superior Tools) have a sturdiness rating of "Tough"
  • Fixed tags for many crafting tools. Messages sent to the player regarding the tools should now use proper grammar.
  • In an effort to increase the usefulness of crafted Farmer's Tools (and to reduce the amount of time farmers spend "watching the grass grow"), induction times for all Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, and Master farming recipes have been changed to match the induction times used by Apprentice farming recipes
  • Fixed an issue with smithing hammers that was causing these tools to only increase the critical chances for Metalsmithing recipes. Smithing hammers now correctly increase the critical chances of both Metalsmithing and Weaponsmithing recipes.
  • Craft tools have seen an adjustment to their structure points and durability. Vendor purchased tools and crafted non-crit tools now have 45 structure points (down from 60). However, these tools have greater durability (was brittle, now normal) and will not incur item-wear on every use. Crit versions of crafting tools have 60 structure points (unchanged) but greater durability (tough).

Skills

  • The Track Mines, Track Wood, Track Crops, and Track Artifacts skills will remain active after summoning a mount.

Farming

  • The farming vocation has been updated to allow the possibility of small profits when selling finished products back to a vendor. Only selling products created from fair plants will turn a profit, depending on the amount generated by the field. There is no profit in selling poor plants to vendors, yet they can be converted back into seeds.
  • Pipe-weed seed recipes that award seeds which cannot be purchased from vendors will now produce a total of three seeds per recipe execution.
  • All farming recipes that require the workbench were previously causing the player to use the "planting seeds" animation. These recipes now use a more appropriate animation.
  • Reduced the quantity of "Fine Fertilizer" needed for tier 5 farming recipes to one.
  • Fixed an issue with the sell value of "Bushel of Fair Blackberries."
  • Adjusted the output of some pipe-weed seed recipes to produce three seeds instead of two.
  • Reduced induction times for all recipes tiers 2 through 5 to match the induction times used in tier 1 recipes. All "field" recipes, regardless of tier, now have 20 second-long inductions. All other farming recipes, regardless of tier, now have 10 second-long inductions.
  • Adjusted craft experience rewards for all farming recipes to compensate for the increased productivity and lower costs of farming
    • All 'seed' recipes award simple (4) craft experience.
    • All 'crop' recipes (recipes that produce useable pipe-weed or vegetables) award simple (4) craft experience.
    • All 'hybrid pipe-weed field' recipes award medium (8) craft experience.
    • All other 'field' recipes award low (6) craft experience.
    • All "field" recipes now have inductions lasting 20 seconds (Examples: Blueberry Field recipe, Southern Star Pipe-weed Field recipe)
    • All other recipes now have inductions lasting 10 seconds (Examples: Cabbage Seed recipe, Old Toby Seed recipe)
  • The recipe "Cross-breed Wizard's Fire Field" was incorrectly using two "Earth of Erebor" as required ingredients. This has been changed to only require one.
  • Winter Barley fields, Spring Barley fields, and Oat fields all now have a chance to produce a "Bushel of Straw."
  • Some pipeweed seeds are now available to players via loot drops.
  • Bushel of Fair Blackberries has been reduced in value to match that of other farming products.

Cooking

  • The "Serene Stew" recipe was previously using ingredients not readily available to a Journeyman Cook. The required recipe ingredients have been changed to bring this recipe in line with other Journeyman-level recipes.
  • Craft experience awarded for completion of recipes classified as "ingredients" has been reduced from 6 experience to 4 experience.
  • All Artisan & Master Cooking recipes that previously required the oven facility effect now require the superior oven facility effect.
  • All recipes that exclusively use ingredients sold by vendors have been changed to award 6 craft experience instead of 8 or 10.
  • All beer and ale recipes have been changed to award 8 craft experience instead of 6.
  • Slightly reduced the required ingredients for some recipes
  • All Artisan & Master Cooking recipes that previously required the forge facility effect now require the superior forge facility effect.
  • Minstrel Lute Strings now have an improvement with critical craft results.

Prospecting

  • Fixed the display names for "Dwarf-iron Deposit," "Rich Dwarf-iron Deposit," "Barrow-iron Deposit," and "Rich Barrow-iron Deposit."

Woodworker

  • Increased damage for the following tier 2 crafted spears to differentiate them from the tier 1 crafted spears: "Ash Spear," "Fine Ash Spear," "Heavy Ash Spear," and "Hardened Ash Spear."
  • Craft experience awarded for completion of recipes classified as "components" has been reduced from 6 experience to 4 experience.
  • All Artisan & Master Woodworking recipes that previously required the workbench facility effect now require the superior workbench facility effect.
  • Slightly reduced the required ingredients for some woodworking recipes

Jeweller

  • New recipes have arrived! Jewellers will find that, in addition to some auto-granted recipes, Jeweller trainers are now selling new bracelet and earring recipes. Even better, improved versions of many of these recipes can also be found throughout treasure.
  • Jeweller trainer now sells some new recipes for crafting bracelets and earrings.
  • New jeweller recipes can now be obtained from loot.
  • Craft experience awarded for completion of recipes classified as "gemstones" has been reduced from 6 experience to 4 experience.
  • All Artisan & Master Jeweller recipes that previously required the workbench facility effect now require the superior workbench facility effect.
  • Slightly reduced the required ingredients for some Artisan and Master Jeweller recipes.

Metalworker

  • Significantly reduced the required ingredients for many Metalworking recipes.
  • Craft experience awarded for completion of recipes classified as "components" has been reduced from 6 experience to 4 experience.
  • Expert metalsmith vendors were missing two shield recipes from their inventories, making these recipes unavailable to players. Both the Westernesse Shield recipe and the Ancient Steel Shield recipe can now be found on expert metalsmith vendors.
  • "Light Westernesse Shield" and "Superb Light Westernesse Shield" are tier 4 light shields that had heavy shield armour values. The shields now have the correct armour for their type.
  • Solid Light Bronze Buckler now has the stats of a rare item.

Weaponsmith

  • New trap recipes have arrived! A variety of new traps can now be crafted by Weaponsmiths for the Hunter class.
  • "Multi-trap" recipes and trap items have been renamed. "Multi-trap (2 traps)" has been changed to "Double-trap," and "Multi-trap (3 traps)" has been changed to "Triple-trap."
  • Required ingredients for all trap recipes have been been reduced slightly. Crafting experience rewards for these recipes were reduced to bring them inline with this change.
  • Craft experience awarded for completion of recipes classified as "components" has been reduced from 6 experience to 4 experience.
  • All Artisan & Master Weaponsmith recipes that previously required the forge facility effect now require the superior forge facility effect.
  • "Hunter Trap" recipes have been rebalanced to require less ingredients. These recipes now award 4 craft experience.
  • Slightly reduced the required ingredients for some weaponsmith recipes.

Scholar

  • Scholars now have the ability to track scholar resource nodes! The trait / skill "Track Ruins" is now a part of the Scholar profession. Similar to the other tracking skills, Track Ruins is a toggle skill that allows all scholars the ability to locate scholar resources on the mini-map.
  • Craft experience awarded for all "Battle Lore" recipes has been increased from 8 to 10.
  • All Artisan & Master Scholar recipes that previously did not require a facility effect now require the superior study facility effect (with the exception of Dye recipes).
  • All "Dye" recipes now require 1 rare dye component instead of 3.
  • Craft experience awarded for all "Dye" recipes has been decreased from 10 to 6.
  • Slightly reduced the required ingredients for many Scholar recipes.
  • New Bow Chant recipes are now available! The new recipes allow scholars to craft chants that enhance a hunter's abilities with bows.
  • Bow Chant recipes are now available via loot drops.
  • Required ingredients for all Hunter Oil recipes have been reduced slightly.
    • Crafting experience rewards for these recipes have also been reduced to bring them inline with this change.
  • Made the following changes to the scholar fire and light oil recipes:
    • Fire Oil Recipe: Normal success produces 4 Fire-oils; critical success produces 7 Fire-oils
    • Refined Fire Oil Recipe: Normal success produces 4 Refined Fire-oils; critical success produces 7 Refined Fire-oils
    • Light Oil Recipe: Normal success produces 4 Light-oils; critical success produces 7 Light-oils
    • Refined Light Oil Recipe: Normal success produces 4 Refined Light-oils; critical success produces 7 Refined Light-oils
  • Battle Lore and Warding Lore scrolls have been updated in a very minor way - cooldown times on the scrolls are now equal to the length of the effect. Effect duration is now either 20 minutes or 30 minutes, not 21 and 31 minutes.

Tailor

  • Craft experience awarded for completion of recipes classified as "components" has been reduced from 6 experience to 4 experience.
  • Tailors now sell recipes for crafting cloaks
  • All Artisan & Master Tailor recipes that previously required the workbench facility effect now require the superior workbench facility effect.
  • Significantly reduced the required ingredients for many Tailor recipes.
  • Updated graphical appearances for all cloaks produced by one-shot recipes.
  • Loose Explorer's Cloak and Pliant Explorer's Cloak have seen a bonus added to them, making these two items different from other cloaks at this tier
  • Some tier 5 light armour items are using different appearances now. The stats on these items have not been adjusted.
    • "Radiant Gloves"
    • "Radiant Armour"
    • "Radiant Leggings"
    • "Radiant Shoes"
    • "Radiant Shoulder Guards"
    • "Fine Radiant Gloves"
    • "Fine Radiant Armour"
    • "Fine Radiant Leggings"
    • "Fine Radiant Shoes"
    • "Fine Radiant Shoulder Guards"
    • "Superb Radiant Gloves"
    • "Superb Radiant Armour"
    • "Superb Radiant Leggings"
    • "Superb Radiant Shoes"
    • "Superb Radiant Shoulder Guards"
    • "Exquisite Radiant Gloves"
    • "Exquisite Radiant Armour"
    • "Exquisite Radiant Leggings"
    • "Exquisite Radiant Shoes"
    • "Exquisite Radiant Shoulder Guards"

Items

  • All crafted weapons, armour, jewelry and shields have had their item levels increased, but have NOT had their required usage levels increased.
  • Updated the "Graven Rune" trophy item. Description now states the item has no apparent use, and changed item's background icon to a normal trophy item icon background.
  • Some class items, such as Burglar Tools, Lore-master Books, Captain Armaments, and Champion Runes, cost less to repair.
  • Fixed an error in the description found on the "Manadgam" ring.
  • Renamed corpse candle trophies to "Limrafn" trophies.
  • The quest item Túrthann got a small upgrade.
  • The quest item Wheatley's Shoulder Pads got a small upgrade.
  • A few pieces of jewelry had repeat names. They were changed to:
    • Bracelets: Torinn - Torchun / Rodgor - Brogechor
    • Rings: Beleglos - Belegor / Estellos - Estelchor / Amarthlos - Amarthgor / Gollos - Golchor
    • Necklaces: Laemír - Ithilúr
  • Updated some treasure icons.
  • Dragon-Tooth Shard now has proper description.
  • The Epic Class set armors have been increased in power.
  • Edhelharn Tokens are now stackable in groups of 5.
  • Fixed a naming problem with a Wight trophy which was leading to some confusion. The name was identical to one used in crafting. The non-crafting version has been renamed.
  • Glass of Aglaral is now on its own cooldown channel and won't block the usage of the Edhelharn Tokens.
  • Cooldowns for the Glass of Aglaral and Edhelharn Tokens will now expire in real-time instead of only during game time.
  • Renamed two rings and two armbands found in the Great Barrows.
  • Moonstone Ring and Sunstone Ring have been increased in power.
  • The quest drop Heart-stone has been properly named Stone-heart
  • The Icon for the Shield-brother quest ring has been updated to reflect the item description.

Armour

  • Shield "Wall of Annuminas" is now bind on equip
  • Cloak of Lothlórien has a small bonus to fate now.
  • Hooded Cloak of the Mountains has a small bonus to will now.
  • Non-hooded Cloak of the Steward now has a bonus to vitality.
  • Hooded Cloak of the Steward now has a bonus to will.
  • Hooded Cloak of Moonlight now has a bonus to stealth. Non-hooded version has a bonus vitality now.
  • Hooded Cloak of the Shire now has a bonus to stealth. Non-hooded version now has a bonus to vitality.
  • Hooded Cloak of the Rangers now has a bonus to stealth.
  • Hooded Cloak of Shadows now has a bonus to stealth. It's also using a new appearance
  • Some cloaks were not using the correct icon and have been corrected.
  • "Robe of Lothlórien" is not a Burglar-only item now and has seen a slight buff.
  • Decreased stats on the Gondorian Kite Shield and the Fine Gondorian Kite Shield (they were previously using level 33 shield stats).
  • Decreased level requirements and stats on the Heavy Steel Round Shield and the Hardened Heavy Steel Round Shield (they were previously set to level 27 requirement while using level 26 shield stats).
  • Increased level requirements and decreased stats on the Light Gondorian Kite shield and the Solid Light Gondorian Kite Shield (they were previously set to level 23 requirement while using level 33 shield stats).
  • Robe "Gwatham" has been changed: Stealth bonus replaced with a bonus to Vitality and a small bonus to Agility. The robe can now be used to give the user a bonus to stealth but during this time the user cannot move.

Weapons

  • The Weaponsmiths of Middle-earth have learned a lot about axe crafting in recent months. Better balancing means you will no longer suffer a small penalty to your chance to hit when using them.
  • Armour Rending effects from axes are no longer permanent on the target
  • Slayer weapons will now properly glow while sheathed and will maintain their glow as they are unsheathed or sheathed around monsters of their slayer type.
  • The intrinsic stun effect has been removed from clubs and hammers (but remains on maces). Clubs now have a small chance of increasing the target's attack duration. Hammers have a small chance of decreasing the target's evasion chance. This change was made because stun effects were extremely prevalent (from weapons) and this was interfering with gameplay for some classes (particularly Burglars, Lore-masters, and Guardians). Stuns always trigger the combat state immunity which is a 10 second period during which the target cannot be stunned, knocked down, etc. When random stuns are being applied to targets this can directly interfere with a player's ability to execute some skills or conduct crowd control. Maces will continue to stun targets and every class, except the Lore-master, has access to these.
  • "Spider-biter's" invokable ability is now better.
  • Some bows that had a critical hit chance only gave that bonus during melee. The bonus is now only for ranged attacks.
  • Some 2-handed weapons will now have +1 to the attribute bonuses on them. This was added to smooth out the bonus curves.
  • Brownlock's Knife, the Burglar level 30 dagger, can now be dual-wielded.
  • Updated the Drums Instruments to now do more damage, but cost more power.

Book 10: The City of Kings - Part 3

From the Release Notes
User Interface

New/Changed Options

  • There is a new 'Try On' button in the vendor 'buy' dialog screen. Pressing the button will equip the item for the avatar in the dressing room ("Does this make my butt look fat?).
  • You can now disable the Dread/Hope FX! The option is "Enable Dread Effects" located in the "Special Effects Options" section of the "UI Settings" option tab.
  • Added a new UI option, "Floating Text Always On Top" that will force floating labels for characters to always draw on top of 3D objects (Legacy behavior.)
  • Added a new UI option, "Floating Text Size" that allows you to change the size of text that appears above characters and objects.
  • There is now a way to select your tracked mob and the tracked mobs of the hunters in your fellowship (if they have the trait active). See the Key Bindings option page and look for Select Next Tracked and Select Previous Tracked
  • Added a Reputation panel to the Character UI.
  • The Dressing Room key mapping is now under the Panels section.
  • You can now click anywhere on a raid member's pet vitals to select that pet.
  • The ESC key now properly closes text item windows when reading notes and such.
  • There's no longer a re-bindable key mapping for "Drop Camera," which wasn't usable anyway.
  • Added a new bindable input action for the fellowship maneuver assist button.
  • Now the fellowship maneuver UI buttons can be fully mapped, so no more mouse clicks!
  • Added a new Combat Option so you can disable skill buttons being used to target nearest enemy if you do not have a selection when pressed.
  • The key binding for Item Sell Locking is set to (Ctrl+T) by default now
  • Added new key bindings for assisting individual Fellowship members. These default to SHIFT+F2 through SHIFT+F6.
  • Vault bags do not automatically show themselves when the vault is opened. You can open all vault bags by pressing the "I" button (default)

UI Skinning

  • There are a whole ton of new art assets that can be skinned! See the updated UISkinArtPack.zip (available on lotro.com after August 20) for samples!
  • Fixed the bug where you had to replace one image in order to get image repositioning to work.
  • There are two new keywords in the SkinDefinition.xml file that you can use to identify the origin that an element should scale from. These new keywords are ScaleOriginX and ScaleOriginY.

Tooltips

  • Added door examination tooltips.
  • Items requiring a Rank 1 rating now show that in their tooltips.
  • Tooltips now show consumable items.
  • Items once again show if they are able to be destroyed in their tooltips.
  • Critical success crafted weapons now show the crafter's inscription in tooltips.
  • Tooltips for items which grant traits now also show a tooltip for the granted trait.
  • Barter and Reputation items will show themselves as such in tooltips.
  • English only: Many tooltip description strings have been updated to be more succinct.

Targeting

  • The ;target alias should now work properly. This alias is replaced by the selected target's name.
  • Raid/Fellowship leaders trying to target mark entities should no longer have trouble when the menu hides behind the main one.
  • No longer can you have the target marks overlap on a marked entity

Info

  • The fellow/raid mini vitals will now display "defeated" over the vitals when a fellow member is incapacitated.
  • The G15 keyboard LCD's morale and power values are now consistent with what's shown on the UI.
  • Better text feedback will be provided when an NPC dies due to a scripted event.
  • Inspecting another player will inform you of his/her race (human, elf, etc.)
  • The vital bars (morale and power) of a fellow's pet now decrease from the right, like all fellow's vitals.
  • You can now see a Summoned Oath Breaker's vitals when selected.
  • The text of your maximum morale now correctly reflects any dread you may have.
  • Reinforcements summoned by mobs now show vitals when selected.
  • The value shown when examining stacks of items now reflects the total value of the stack instead of the value of an individual item.
  • Show Surname and Show Rank options are now grouped under the Floating Information section.

Other

  • If you right-click while dismounting or /following, you'll no longer lose your ability to mouselook.
  • Fixed the help-string for the '/shortcut' command
  • Fixed a bug where the stack indicator in the vendor panel stays visible if you shut the vendor UI with Shift held down.
  • Increased response time for Kinship UI when toggling online/offline option.
  • Items will dye while equipped - no need to un-equip then re-equip.
  • You'll get an error if you try to dye an item with the same color the item already is.
  • The various UIs involving skills, perks and traits are all more consistent, both in looks and behaviors.
  • The out of range icon will no longer remain behind in the skill queue display.
  • Cooldown timers now always show seconds when the time remaining is less than 1 hour.
  • Fixed a bug which when dragging quickslots left an empty hole behind.
  • If you hide your UI with F12, it will now stay hidden after going through a doorway.
  • No more "not while swimming" error messages while trying to play music while jumping.
  • No more "General Error" when using /stuck sometimes.
  • Fixed a problem where you could occasionally be unable to cancel an action by clicking on the progress bar.
  • You'll no longer get the background, shadow or blue glow of one icon on top of another.
  • The progress bar is no longer stuck "on" when you reposition it while active.
  • Fixed a little graphics issue with the quest reward displays.
  • Mouse scroll wheel now works correctly in the reputation page of your character journal.
  • Better errors given for weird client problems we hope you never see. (ed. note: Left this in ‘cause it was kinda funny. -Patience)
  • Fixed a bug that was causing the melee effectiveness field in the character journal to be empty sometimes if you logged in while wielding a shield in your off-hand.
  • Reduced the chances of attacking a defeated foe with a skill that was already initiated and progressing through the induction/warm-up timer, e.g. the Hunter's "Swift Bow" skill.
  • Fixed a problem with Context Menus not showing up for fellowship members.
  • Floating text labels have been improved. In general, they're smaller on distant objects and interact with 3D scenery more appropriately. Also, they now scale properly with your resolution settings.
  • Fixed a bug which would cause option values on sliders to not be saved between logins.
  • If you used the /alias command to bind an alias to a quickslot, it would place it one past the specified position. This has been fixed.
  • You will no longer see the blue mouse rollover image on items when dragging them.
  • Fixed a bug where you could delete all the text from the various tabs in the game. Note that this would only affect your client, and would reset if you logged out.
  • /who should work as expected now
  • Players can remove the "New Overlay" more clearly when they hover over the skill icon in the skill tree.
  • Fixed the sorting problem with some categories of fellowship maneuvers.

Kinships

  • Kinship updates: Added a 4th member rank called "Recruit". When you are initially invited into a kinship this is the rank you will be given. This rank has no titles and can only chat with the kinship (cannot use Kinship Auctions).
  • The Kinship UI has been reorganized. There is a checkbox that allows you to see Online Members only. This is on by default.
  • Kinship Members can now add a Player Note on the Kinship Page for themselves. These notes can be viewed by all members of the Kinship by pressing the "Change View" button.
  • More Kinship Lifespan Ranks have been added. When viewing the Next Kinship Rank, you now see how long until that Rank will be reached.
  • The "Usurp" function is now available! (Added 8/20)

Chat/Social

  • By popular demand, increased the maximum size of the chat window from 768x512 to 1024x1024. Note that the larger your chat window, the more video memory it will use!
  • Dialogs, loot windows and other popup windows will no longer steal focus from a text element. For example, if you're typing in the chat window when a fellowship request comes in, and you keep typing, you'll still be chatting - not canceling the request and popping up a dozen windows. Yay!
  • Page up and page down keys no longer scroll the chat window twice per press.
  • You can once again turn your chat window completely transparent.
  • The Friends list should no longer show ??? for the area of a logged out player

Emotes

  • Travel and mounting is blocked during some emotes (sitting for example).
  • Emotes are now blocked while crafting.
  • Added over 40 new emotes! Many of these new emotes commands are text only and do not have associated animations:
    • agree
    • lol
    • nothing
    • attack
    • charge
    • fight
    • ready
    • think
    • bother
    • tear
    • story
    • brb
    • ahem
    • mumble
    • clap
    • wink
    • assist
    • stare
    • sorry
    • calm
    • blush
    • burp
    • stretch
    • rest
    • oop (Out Of Power)
    • poke
    • hug
    • pat
    • wait
    • drool
    • sweat
    • followme
    • giggle
    • yawn
    • wince
    • shiver
    • congratulate
    • curtsey
    • grumble
    • innocent
    • whistle
    • fidget
    • slap

World

  • Evendim now has birds!
  • Various floating objects around the world have been grounded, various texture seams cleaned up, and various stuck locations fixed.
  • The Decayed of Imlad Balchorth are now more common.
  • The Superior Workbench that was hanging out beneath the ground at the farms north of Hobbiton has been removed.
  • The herd of Deer kept within Tornstones in the Lone-lands should no longer flee when approached. Gone are the legions of northward facing Deer outside of Ost Guruth.
  • Gath Forthnir now has a Milestone.
  • Imlad Balchorth, Himbar and Nan Gurth are now serviced by a new rally point.
  • Players who suffer defeat in Tyrn Fornech should now appear at the Parth Aduial Rally Point upon release.
  • Players should no longer get stuck in an inescapable pit in the Gates of Carn Dum instance.
  • Upon defeat in Himbar, Imlad Balchorth and Nan Gurth, players will now rally to a new rally point in northeastern Angmar.
  • All public dungeons in Angmar now use normal landscape regeneration rates.
  • Deer, rabbits, and other critters would run Northward to escape the Eye of Sauron. They have recently discovered Angmar, which scares the little guys just as much as Sauron. Knowing that there is no safe place to run, they'll flee in any direction in a panic.

Town services

  • Captain trainers now sell banners of war, victory, and hope.
  • Removed carrots and mushrooms from being sold at grocers and suppliers. These items should be provided to players only by farmers.

Travel/Maps/Radar

  • The Evendim map has been updated for accuracy.
  • More map note kinds are visible in the more distant maps. For instance, Bree-land and The Shire maps now show most every map note type. Look at the filter and see for yourself!
  • You now have to mouse over a map note's image, not just its bounding box, to get a tooltip.
  • No more map notes poking through the map's Fog of War in areas you haven't yet discovered.

Music System

  • Other players will no longer see music system errors when you're teleported while playing.

Adoptions/Notary System/Bios

  • Monster Players and Players are no longer allowed to adopt each other - There will be no coercing with the enemy!
  • There is now a 'notary' NPC available for monster players in the Ettenmoors.

Auctions

  • Dealt a telling blow to Sauron's auction pilfering operation! (AKA - Fixed a bug in the Auction System which would occasionally consume an item and send out "Sauron stole my l00t" letters.)
  • Auction UI: It is no longer possible to enter non-alpha characters into the Name Search field.
  • Auction UI: The Item Name field will now start a search when the enter key is pressed inside of it.
  • Auction UI: When bidding on an Auction - if the bid price reaches the buyout price, the Auction UI will treat the bid as a buyout instead of prompting the user to hit the buyout button.
  • The Auction UI will now keep around a record of recently posted items! When a player posts an item, and then drags the same item again into the Auction UI again, the UI will automatically populate itself with the last values used for that item. Handy for Crafters!
  • Fixed a bug in the Auction UI's Duration Sorter. The sort was using the Auction's Duration, not the Auction's Time Remaining! This would cause strangeness, such as 1 hour remaining being displayed as greater than 1 day remaining. All better now.
  • The Auction UI was displaying the wrong required level for items. This has been corrected.
  • Fixed a bug in the Auction UI which would cause the buyout price to be deleted.
  • Updated the Auction UI to better limit the amount of numbers entered into a currency field. You can now only enter two copper digits, and three silver digits.
  • The Auction UI will now properly clear the buyout fields when an item is dragged out of the post slot.
  • Auction hall money displays now show all denominations except for leading zero ones. For example: "1g 0s 100c", or "5s 0c", or "41c", etc.
  • You can now right-click a mail message to open it.

Mail

  • After hitting the "Reply" button, the newly opened window will have focus on the "Body" field instead of the "To" field.

Book 10: The City of Kings - Part 4

From the Release Notes
Graphics/Animation/FX
  • Fixes 'stutter-step' issues when NPCs and monsters stop moving.
  • "Find the Trail" effects will no longer disappear after teleporting.
  • New visual effect for when you bind to a milestone.
  • Sleeping monsters that are killed in one hit no longer continue to play the sleeping ZZZZZ particles.
  • Weapons that are equipped while you are stealthed and out of combat now properly unstealth with you.
  • Monsters now have weapon streaks on their attacks.
    • These streaks will be disabled when monster combat FX are disabled in options.
    • Disabling Avatar combat FX will now also disable streaks for avatars.
  • The Slayer FX appear much more quickly now than they used to when a target creature type is nearby
  • Fixed a race condition that was causing other players' weapons to show up unsheathed and in hand while out of combat.
  • Some FX that included gore were not playing at all after the addition of the FX toggles, these will now toggle on/off correctly
  • Certain FX were not playing even when the gameplay option to show them was enabled, this have been fixed.
  • Fixed a number of animation glitches that occurred when playing a skill after an auto-attack
  • The Blue (Tactics) Fellowship Maneuvers animation will no longer hitch between the pose hold and the actual attack
  • In the quest "Knocking Heads," the stone throwing animation will now play correctly
  • Certain FX were not playing even when the gameplay option to show them was enabled, this has been fixed.
  • Avatars will now sync up properly with their mounts after teleporting while on a travel route.
  • Fixed an issue with walk-strafing while carrying a bucket not animating properly.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing Hobbit instruments to appear at the wrong scale.
  • Fixed an issue with the Bear's combat FX that was letting them play even when toggled off.
  • Certain walls in the Great Barrow Instance would appear whole again if they unloaded and then reloaded on the client. They will now remain in their broken state.
  • Fixed issues with Female Bandit death animations
  • The Giant Arifael will no longer slide when moving
  • Fixed an issue with certain Hobbit Chairs disappearing when players attempt to sit in them.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing death animations to occasionally show the monster as standing for a brief moment.
  • Lore-master FX fixes
    • Fixed an issue with the Visual FX for "Test of Will" that was preventing them from playing properly.
    • Fixed some conditions that were allowing the FX of the Ent for the skill "March of the Ents" to occasionally remain.
    • Fixed an issue with "Wisdom of the Council" for Elf Lore-masters not delivering the effect until the end of the animation. They will now apply the effect when the staff hits the ground.
  • Fixed an animation issue that was causing the Elf Female to drop her arms during archery attacks.
  • Burglars and wargs will no longer swim faster when stealthed. They now swim at the intended speed.
  • Players will no longer get a frame hitch when going to stealth while in motion.
  • Players' weapons should now disappear when crafting, playing music, and when doing most emotes. Some emotes will still show the weapons when appropriate.
  • The Firefly will now stop glowing when it dies.
  • Hit FX will only play on hits and criticals and will no longer incorrectly play on misses.
  • The obelisk for "Fire and Ice" quest can now be more easily selected
  • The Champion's horn item will now play the right FX when used.
  • Water will now splash when you jump into it! CAAANNONBAAALLL!
  • Giants should now throw rocks without a hitch in the animation.
  • Warcry now has a shorter animation.
  • Toned down the hit FX on Tale of Heroism.
  • Added New Darkwater Auras.
  • Celondim guards will no longer be super shiny with specular lighting.
  • Users will no longer clip through Gimli's door in the Silverdeep mine.
  • Avatar animations now blend better while jumping in various directions

Audio

  • You should no longer hear multiple Voiceover scripts when in an instance.
  • Added ambient sound to Rivendell Valley.

Miscellaneous

  • Darkwater Monsters are now lootable when killed while knocked down
  • Fixes an occasional client crash that can occur in The Great Barrow.
  • Fixed a few bugs that might leave players stuck at a loading screen (we're not saying it can't still happen, but it won't happen from these!).
  • The stew pot in the Evendim giant camp will no longer disappear when used.
  • /servertime now properly reports the localtime of the server
  • If you have multiple quests that require you to carry an item (pie, mail, eggs) you will now pick up the correct item instead of a random item.

Quests

General

  • Players can now use the quest NPC to join their fellowship in a private encounter once they accept all available quests from the NPC. For example, if someone in your fellowship has started the Weathertop Instance but you have not done any of the quests, once you accept the first quest from Candaith, you will get the option to enter the Weathertop Instance with your fellowship.
  • We have reduced the retry timer on starting a quest you have cancelled from 20 minutes to 5 minutes.
  • Many generic crate icons have been replaced with real icons for high-level Class Quests
  • Added the number of the Epic Book to the first chapter of each, so when you start a new Book you can tell which one you're starting.
  • Fixed Quest Tracker menu choice to find others on quest. It wasn't always opening the UI to the correct tab.
  • Fixed an issue with NPCs that were showing the pending quest ring and displaying a list of pending quests that had an invalid retry time.
  • Fixed the issue with carrying objects (mail, pie, buckets) and with riding a horse that would randomly cause you to drop the object or be removed from your horse for no apparent reason. This was most commonly seen when doing the Horse Quests.
  • When repairing the breaches on Trestlebridge for Jeweller, Tailor and Woodworker quests, you will once again see the repaired breaches.
  • The Summer Festival quests won't be cluttering up your quest logs anymore. Don't worry, they'll be back again next year!

Specific Quests:

  • Players will no longer be knocked off their mount after the first hit in the "Fresh Steeds" quest arc
  • The phial of water needed for the "Reclaim the Lost Maiden" quest is now collected by Dannasen at the end of the quest. This change has caused the quest to be versioned and it will be removed from your log if you had it underway.
  • We've addressed a few issues with the "A Blade for a Life" escort quest so that it should work more reliably now.
  • Book 9 Chapter 8 has a new purple ring as a selectable reward. This replaces the yellow leggings.
  • Moved the quests "A Sister's Love" and "Vessel of Purity" into the Garth Agarwen quest category.
  • Players can no longer light the braziers in Fornost without starting the boss fight.
  • The Rangers in Amarthiel's Hope are no longer scared and will keep fighting instead of stopping.
  • Sharkey's Lieutenant in Andrath just got some friends to help him.
  • "A Guardian's Duty" - Updated quest description to reduce redundant redundancy
  • "Inspire Postman Oddfoot" - Did you do the mail quests out of order, and now can't find the rest of them? Now Postman Oddfoot has some comments to get you back on track!
  • New and improved directions to Merilos for "The Call of Precious Things, Part IV:" She's not just in Rivendell, she's at the Spire of Meeting, west of the House of Elrond. Whoops, spoiler!
  • You want to know where Barad Tharsir is? It's on the far side of the Brandywine from where you get the relevant quests, and now they'll tell you so.
  • People were really bummed in Rivendell, sometimes. Now they shouldn't be so depressing, even the Bowyer who was always going on with 'Oh, woe is me!' and 'It's terrible, just terrible!' -- brought to you by the 'Rivendell Is A Happy Place!(tm)' tourism bureau. Contact Lord Elrond for free tickets to an Elf Champions game.
  • Dwalin has had his eyes checked, and will no longer call you a dwarf despite any evidence to the contrary, when you talk to him for "Dwalin's Bad Day."
  • When you search the satchel for "A Path to Learning, Part Two," you'll now get a notification that you found something.
  • "A True Friend to Holly Hornblower" has been versioned to help fix the problem with its recipe reward.
  • Frodo now properly has the level of Dread he's supposed to in everyone's favourite "Supply Your Own Captions" quest.
  • "The Bounty Hunter" is now available! If you've completed all of the Ost Forod bounties, speak with Basil Gummidge for the opportunity to pick up the missing piece of the Panthavron set.
  • Placed the wanted posters in Ost Forod on noticeboards so they'll be easier to see.
  • Remember the giant statue of Elendil that you carried in your back pocket while swimming across Lake Nenuial? It's now a little less ridiculously large.
  • Frustrated by Humfrey Rumming's Amazing One-Use Cellar Key? Well, worry no more! Now the Cellar Key can be used an infinite number of times, or at least until he asks for it back.
  • Removed duplicate billboards in "The Quarry in Scary" and "Articles of Harmony"
  • Fixed stringtable error in "An Axe to Grind"
  • No more deja vu! You should now only see Athal once. You should now only see Athal once. (ed. note. MadeOfLions, that was too easy! You should be ashamed. You should be ashamed. -Patience)
  • Added a failsafe to the Tomb of Elendil -- if Crackskull glitches and dies before he wakes up Nornagol, wait for a minute or two and Nornagol should wake up on her own.
  • You asked, and we listened -- Class Quest trophies from Carn Dum and Urugarth are now a 100% drop from the appropriate bosses.
  • "The Scent of Mithril" has been updated in order to fix a problem where you could get into a state from which the quest could never be completed. To receive the quest again, you will need to return to Bothwar in Gabilshathur.
  • "Banishing the Darkness" - if you summon the Spirit Deluches and fail to destroy it, it will re-spawn when you approach the place he was summoned again.
  • Book 9, Chapter 1 is now bestowed by Gandalf since the players are at Rivendell (not Gath Forthnír) at the end of Book 8, and are sent to Golodir in Angmar.
  • Book 1 Chapter 11 will no longer send defeated players to West Bree; instead they will revive outside of Tom Bombadil's house.
  • Fixed a problem with some fellowship members unable to enter "The Hideout" and "Broken Alliance"
  • The Mountain Basil for "A Taste of Skill, Part II" will glow once again.
  • The quest "Treasures from the Fields" has had minor bug fixes
  • Added fixed spawns of snapper turtles for the quest "Snapper Soup"
  • Added color to monsters in "Formal Complaint" instance
  • Fixed an issue with the quest arc "Brotherly Bonds." Some of the quests have been updated and will be removed from players' quest logs if they have not been fully completed. Players should talk to the quest bestower to obtain the quest again.
  • Constable Bolger will now run home after his combat ends
  • The "Fresh Steeds" quests will no longer fail on logout when not mounted.
  • NPC Hithlim has had his title changed to more accurately reflect his goods.
  • Fixed the walking animation for the innkeeper in the Golden Perch.
  • Added a reset to the boss encounter in Epic Book 1 Chapter 11.
  • Under certain circumstances Forvengwath could fail to reappear - this has been addressed.
  • The Castellan's chest in Barad Gularan will no longer lock after it has been unlocked once.
  • The castellan's chest in Barad Gúlaran no longer despawns on loot. You will now be able to obtain the key if the chest closes after being opened.

Carn Dûm

  • We have slightly modified the Epic story:
    • You no longer have to progress through all of Carn Dûm to meet up with Golodir in Book 8 - Chapter 5. Instead, speaking with Golodir will send you into a brand new private instance where you and Golodir encounter Mordirith.
    • The quest rewards for Book 8 - Chapter 5 have not changed. Mordirith's unique loot rewards are not available from completing this instance. This new instance was introduced for players who want to complete Book 8 without going through all of Carn Dûm.
    • Players who have already completed the Book 8 - Chapter 5 quest will be able to help those who have not. Once they have completed it, they can replay the instance later through the Aughaire Reflecting Pool. The changes to this quest required us to version the quest, meaning if you have it underway, it will be removed from your journal. If you currently have Book 8 - Chapter 5 underway and have defeated Mordirth, you will want to turn it in before the update goes live on August 20.
    • Book 9 now depends on Book 8 being completed. (This was originally our intent, but since Book 8 was difficult to complete, we changed this requirement to having completed Book 7.)
  • Mordirith has been practicing some new tricks and since he no longer has to waste time on that silly Ranger, Golodir, he has decided to practice the skills on you, the player!
  • We've revised the Helchgam fight in Carn Dûm to address some of the issues reported with the fallen pillars not being solid and therefore useless. The only noticeable change will be that you can no longer walk in front of a pillar prior to it falling. After the pillar has fallen, you should be able to cross it as would be expected.
  • If you still encounter a problem with the fallen pillar not being solid, move completely away from the fallen pillar and then try to step on it again.
  • We've also tried to address some of the pet pathing issues in this room, but it is recommended you keep your pet in a non-aggressive stance while in this room. Otherwise they may still take a flying leap into the water surrounding Helchgam.

Helegrod

  • This is a special note to all those who have claimed to kill Mr. Thorog. Thorog and Turbine have been talking and he doesn't like the fact that you all think that he is too easy. In fact he complained that he had been keeping his true power back for those that he deemed worthy. Rather than go up to his turret and heal like he was originally planning on doing, he had decided to mock and point. Now that the cries have been heard, he has decided otherwise. Let the pain begin. And for those who proudly wear the titles and claim victory, know that in his heart of hearts, Mr. Thorog has thrown down the gauntlet. No more Mr. Nice Dragon! Beware the wrath of the dragon in his original intended state.
  • Helegrod Epic Sets are now equally shared amongst the Raid and Landscape. All pieces will drop on high level monsters at a very low rate. They will drop in the instance as well, at a much higher rate off of each of the four major bosses. Thanks, Thorog!
  • All Epic Set pieces will only bind when equipped now.
  • All Epic Set pieces have gotten a major stat pass.
  • The Pedestals in Helegrod now simply can be used if the correct Stage has been passed. No longer do players need to do any quests or use any keys. (Ex. if the players kill Zaudru, they can use the Ring Pedestal, if not, they can't!) If you had one of these items in your inventory, it will be removed when you log into Book 10.

[edit] Book 9, Patch 2

From the Release Notes
  • Audio
    • Shouts and cries are back by popular demand! Additionally, new shout and cry sound effects have been added for some races.
    • The placeholder sound for blocking, parrying, critical hits, and a few other skill feedback sounds has been replaced with the proper sound effects.
  • Helegrod
    • The Spider now has greater reserves of his signature deadly poison, and a willingness to use it.
    • The Angmarim and his Drake servitors are more dangerous now. The drakes are more likely to use their wing flap skills to send players flying away from them.
    • The chest containing Drugoth's crown in Helegrod will no longer destroy itself if it is opened and then closed.
  • Misc
    • The generation ratio between Smithing and Precious ores has been restored to their pre-patch weightings of 3:1
    • Guards located at the ressurection circles throughout the Ettenmoors will no longer be affected by fear.
    • Fixed an issue with NPCs that were showing the pending quest ring and displaying a list of pending quests that had an invalid retry time.
    • Captain: Herald Armaments will now increase your Herald's ability to mitigate damage (they were doing the opposite before).
    • Captain: Telling Mark will once again enable your Herald to use his skills.
    • If you are defeated in the "The Thief-taker's Bane" you will no longer reappear where you were defeated. Instead you will be taken to a nearby defeat circle (rally point? whatever we call these in-game.)
    • Added admin commands to free items stuck in Landroval's mail system
    • Additional server-side maintenance

[edit] Book 9, Patch 1

From the Release Notes
General
  • Fellowship members will no longer hear a sound when entering Tale of Heroism effect area.
  • Fixed the problem with F12 hiding the mini vitals but never showing them again.
  • The pages needed for the Legendary Captain Deed, "The Candle's Flame," can now be found in the game world.
  • The new crafting icon background has been fixed and should no longer cause eyeballs to bleed.
  • It is no longer possible to mail items directly from your Vault.
  • The "Earring of Discovery" and "Hunter's Eye" now both give a +1% bonus to Ranged Critical Chance.
  • The Krahjarn Felarrow guards assigned to protect the captured rally points of monster players are meant to be fearsome, not fearful. Now, they are immune to effects which make them run in fear.
  • Armour Rend effects are no longer permanent.
  • War-cloak of Isildur now has an out of combat morale regeneration bonus.

Quests

  • Changed the behavior of the Kergrim Elite Masters in the Tomb of Elendil so they can no longer break the fight with Nornagol.
  • The quest arc which begins with “Hewing the Wood,” created for the Shores of Evendim, is now available to players.
  • Fixed an issue in the instance Barad Gúlaran in which Múlvuirë, High Sorceress, could enter a broken state and block the player from completing the instance.
  • The Knight of Mordirith needed for the Book 9, Chapter 6 - "Journey to Esteldin" quest will now respawn correctly after he is killed.

[edit] Book 9

The Shores of Evendim - Part 1

From the Release Notes
Hello everyone! Following are patch notes for the Shores of Evendim update which goes live on June 13. They're quite large and are broken up into 3 parts. We hope you enjoy all of the new content, tweaks, and fixes in this update, and we'll see you soon in Evendim!

Of Special Note

New World Content

We've added an entire new region to the game: Evendim! Roughly the size of the Shire, players can venture here from roughly level 25+. Located north of the Shire and west of Fornost, this new region has loads of new quests, monsters, items and more! Here are some cool facts on this brand new region:

  • Dúnedain of the North once inhabited the lands of Evendim. In fact, it is here that the capital of Arnor,is built by Elendil after the fall of Númenor.
  • The remains of the great city of Annúminas sprawl along the southern shore and islands of Lake Evendim, or Nenuial as it is sometimes called.
  • At some point the city was abandoned by the Dúnedain of the North when the kingdom of Arnor was sundered into three realms: Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur.
  • The reason for this sundering involves a dispute between the three sons of Eärendur over the fate of Annúminas.
  • Since the city did not fall in war but was abandoned, many of its ruins remain nearly intact and rumors of great lost wealth are told throughout Eriador. The lure of ancient riches attracts many unsavoury types to Evendim.
  • Angmar is not ignorant of Annúminas, and has sent scouts to discern if there is anything of value to them.
  • At the same time, in Rivendell the Fellowship continues preparing to leave while Aragorn decides that now is the time to re-forge Narsil. For the light to be returned to this blade, a great gem, long since missing from the hilt, must be replaced. Such a gem may reside in the tombs of Annúminas.

New Instances

Deep in the northern regions of the Misty Mountains lies Helegrod, the location of LOTRO's first 24 person raid!

The ancient keep of Helegrod was home to mighty dwarves during the times of Moria. The dragon Thorog coveted the riches that lay within and assaulted the city, slaying dwarves beyond measure. Durin the Fifth strapped to his back Mírdanant, a gift of Eregion to his grandsire which passed from father to son through the long years. He strode with a small company of dwarves to the gates of Helegrod. Durin bellowed a challenge, and Thorog responded in kind! The battle was joined! So fierce was the fighting between dragon and dwarf that the very gates of Helegrod were split asunder.

After weary days and nights, Durin began at length to tire; all those in his company lay dead or dying, save Bruni who was called Yellowbeard in later years, whose wounds were too severe for him to continue waging battle. Still, mighty Thorog fought on, refusing to surrender the treasures of Helegrod to their rightful masters. Thorog prepared a white-hot jet of flame with which to roast Durin, whom he judged to be near death, but too late he realized his error. Too late! For lo! Durin swung Mírdanant with all that remained of his strength, and there ended Thorog's cruel reign.

Durin would not live to see victory, for Thorog's final gout of flame proved too strong for the dwarf's stout shield, and he was ended. Mírdanant was lost with Durin; it remains to this day buried in the neck of Thorog's corpse.

Additional new instances in this update include:

  • The Tomb of Elendil
  • The Blade that was Broken
  • Twisted-heart
  • Barad Gûlaran
  • A Formal Complaint
  • Thief-taker's Bane
  • Amarthiel's Friends
  • Oakheart's Might

New Quests & Deeds

Over 100 new quests (including over 75 in Evendim) and over 20 new Deeds have been added! New quest arcs include:

  • Book 9: The Twilight Shores
  • The Reforging of Narsil
  • Farmer's Bane
  • A Formal Complaint
  • Missing the Meeting
  • Threat from the North
  • Befuddled Titans
  • The Twisted Forest
  • Breakfast in the Ruins
  • A Plague of Efts
  • Treasure Hunt

Introducing 7 sets of Epic Armour!

  • Each class now has a unique set of class specific Epic Armour! Each set is specifically tailored to the class giving great bonuses to the stats that matter most.
  • Numerous additional sets are also available at lower levels, ranging from level 30 to 50.
  • The new Epic Armour comes in the form of "sets". As you gain more pieces of the set, new bonuses are automatically unlocked for your character. Now, being statistically cool also means you are visually cool!

Additionally (see the full patch notes for more detail):

  • The Music system received several major improvements!
  • The Raid UI was given a revamp!
  • Battle in the Ettenmoors is now persistent. The tides of battle will now shift and remain in their state regardless of server shutdowns or outages.
  • Rain is back! Long have our players pined for the rain which was so cruelly removed from them.
  • Travel routes throughout the game have had their costs adjusted to be more consistent.
  • Certain monster attacks that applied damage-over-time effects were overriding one another. Now, each monster should be able to apply their own effect which should not replace another's. This was already occurring with normal DOTs, but should now also be in place for others, such as Poison and Fear DOTs.
  • Farming has had a major overhaul! Please see the crafting section for more details.
  • Auction hall money displays now show all denominations except for leading zero ones. For example: "1g 0s 100c", or "5s 0c", or "41c", etc.
  • Crafting resource nodes can only be opened by one player at a time! No more having your node mined out from under you.
  • The winning cloak designs from the cloak design contest are in!
  • Any crafted item that wasn't bind-on-equip is now set to be so.
  • Reduced the cost of posting kinship auctions from 30 silver to 3 silver. Too many zeroes!
  • Time of Day indicator added to the radar. This co