LOTRO Release Notes

[TheArtilleryman]

This thread will contain the release notes for each patch.

If possible, I would like to ask please try and discuss the release notes in new threads, rather than posting loads of replies here, so the key information stays clear and easy to read (obviously, people can post what and where they like, it's just a polite request :))

I will be adding to the thread each time there is an update, so people here can see what is going on.

Note: I don't work for SSG, just doing this to help out, so it might not always get updated bang on time and I might miss something now and again :)

I also can’t answer support questions, so if you have any of these, please go to www.lotro.com and visit the official forums, or visit help.standingstonegames.com

[TheArtilleryman]

Downtime Notice: Wednesday, June 10th 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT)

The LOTRO game worlds will be unavailable from 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) on Wednesday, June 10th to release Update 26.2.1.

Update 26.2.1 Release Notes


Here are the Release Notes for Update 26.2.1, released on Wednesday, June 10th.


News and Notes:


Classes

Champion's Challenge has had its broken values corrected.


Quests and Adventure Areas

Askâd-mazal, the Chamber of Shadows
The Shadowed King will now enter an enraged state after being in combat for 15 minutes on 3-player mode.
Increased range of Shadowy Bombardment.


Miscellaneous

Corrected some localization issues that added incorrect text to some Volume III, Book 13 quests and prevented instance names in the Instance Finder panel from displaying properly in French and German.

[TheArtilleryman]

Downtime Notice: Wednesday, June 17th 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT)

The LOTRO game worlds will be unavailable from 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) on Wednesday, June 17th to release Update 26.2.2.


Update 26.2.2 Release Notes


Here are the release notes for Update 26.2.2, released on Wednesday, June 17th.


Of Special Note:


The Tournament of the Twins has begun


Our newest Tournament World called the Tournament of the Twins has arrived! The sons of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir, have begun a discussion with perhaps too much boldness, and are arguing about which of them would make the greatest leader and support the greatest heroes. Once you have reached level 10, you may take up the banner of either Elladan or Elrohir and venture forth to earn honour completing Deeds and challenging heroes that align with your rival. Brave players can earn rewards for completing Deeds, and those characters will appear in a special Leaderboard. Will you rush to honour your patron by completing Deeds, or will you spend your time challenging rivals?



At level 10, approach either of the two sons of Elrond (Elrohir and Elladan), who are present in both Bree-town and Gondamon, and ask to join their faction by accepting a quest.

Once you have accepted a quest from one of the twins, you will be able to engage in combat with members of the opposing faction. You will gain honour by completing deeds throughout Eriador.
Each Eriador deed completed grants one hundred points of honor, which is tracked on a leaderboard. Use the Register of Heroes to view the current leaderboard. Deeds completed prior to accepting a quest from Elladan or Elrohir, or not in the Eriador category, will not count towards this score.

Once you are engaged in this quest for honour, your safe zones from members of the opposing faction are in Bree-town, Gondamon, Rivendell, Michel Delving, Glóin's Camp, Aughaire, Tinnudir, Gath Forthnír, Ost Guruth, and Othrikar.
Characters who are defeated will get a short stealth and haste buff that will allow them to get back into the battle.

During this event, you cannot gain experience points in any instance after level 10. This includes Instance Finder and quest instances.

This event is focused in Eriador with a level cap of 50.


This server is available to VIP subscribers From June 17th through July 14th. Find Bombadil in the game launcher when the world is available starting at 12:00pm Eastern (-4 GMT) on June 17th.

News and Notes:

UI

Corrected an issue where Grouping Requests "Max" field level changes in the Instance Finder panel would revert back to the maximum instance level.
The /loc command has been modified to include the player's server ID and timestamp. Including this information with GM correspondence could help us expedite your request.

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 27: The Great Wedding Release Notes
Here are the Release Notes for Update 27: The Great Wedding, released on Tuesday, June 30th.

Of Special Note:
The Great Wedding

Hail and greetings to thee, friend of all Free Folk!

Be it known that

Aragorn II Elessar, King of Gondor and Arnor

Son of Arathorn and Gilraen

and

Arwen Undómiel

Daughter of Elrond and Celebrían

request the honour of thy company at their most joyous wedding and the union of Elves and Men

at the Citadel of Minas Tirith on Midsummer’s Day

Please answer, by errand-rider or Eagle

And present thyself to the King at the Tower of Ecthelion

Feasting and merriment to follow at the Hall of Merethrond and throughout the city

Middle-earth is gathering in Minas Tirith to celebrate the wedding of Arwen and Aragorn! Epic Volume V, Book 1: 'A Time of Celebration' begins with King Elessar in the Throne Room of Minas Tirith (Midsummer). Additionally, from now through July 20th, players can take part in celebratory Midsummer quests and instances to celebrate the wedding. An auto-bestow quest is available that provides a map to Minas Tirith (Midsummer) as well. Once there, an introduction quest will get you started on the Midsummer Festival. Additionally, some Stable-masters in Middle-earth will bring characters to Minas Tirith (Midsummer). Finally, Midsummer Wedding-planners are located in Thorin's Hall, Duillond, Bree-town, and the Party Tree to direct players to Midsummer quests in those areas. Earn titles, an emote, a kite, and more by completing Deeds associated with the Midsummer Festival! The Midsummer Festival will be a yearly event.

Storied Tales

A Storied Tale is a solo-able, story-focused alternative to an Epic Battle. Each of the five Helm's Deep Epic Battles now has a Storied Tale, and for each Helm's Deep quest you can choose to complete either the Epic Battle or the Storied Tale. As a result, many quests in Epic Volume III Book 13 have been versioned, and you will need to pick up the quest from its bestower if you had it underway. The Storied Tales are intended to be played on a character that has never completed Helm's Deep. Each successful completion will add the Storied Tale to the West Rohan Reflecting Pool in Dunharrow. Characters that have already completed Helm's Deep and want to experience the Storied Tales can speak to Cenric on the field of victory outside of Helm's Deep (Sunrise). He will offer you a quest to play the Storied Tales, and completing them here will also add them to the West Rohan Reflecting Pool in Dunharrow. However, be advised that you will need to use the time-changing objects in Helm's Deep after every Storied Tale in order to return to Cenric, so the experience will not have as satisfying a flow as it would if you were playing on a fresh character.

News and Notes:
Classes

Beorning

Hearten and Composure have had their cooldowns increased to 20 seconds, and their healing pulses reduced to every two seconds for 12 seconds.

Bee Swarm's base tick damage has been increased, and is now more comparable to greater swarm damage.

Greater Swarm's Trait now correctly indicates that only its damage is area of effect, not its debuff effects.

Expose Weakness' tooltip now changes correctly depending on form.

Guarded Attack now describes how its buff stacks up to five times.

Claw Swipe now describes how its buff stacks up to three times.

Due to Beorning trait changes, Beorning trait trees will be reset upon login and your trait points will be refunded.

Captain

The Captain Trait Set Bonus tooltip now reflects that it provides a mitigation bonus instead of an armour bonus.

Guardian

Flash of Light has had its damage reduced. However, this ability will now properly benefit from added light damage bonuses from Legendary Items at higher levels.

Hunter

All hunter fire skills now benefit from fire damage bonuses.

The cooldown on the trait Hail of Arrows now works on a per-target basis.

Lore-master

Lore-master skills no longer cost morale.

The Level-headed trait now reduces power costs instead of morale costs.

Enfeeble now correctly buffs the initial 10 second version of each of its effects.

Crafting

Fixed an issue where the icons for the Sapphire and Polished Sapphire had been reversed for a long time. The Sapphire icon also now looks more uncut.

Hobbit Gifts

Wedding themed gifts have been added to daily and weekly Hobbit Gifts. Through the end of July, silver 'Boosts' presents and gold 'Advanced Supplies' presents will include an extra cosmetic gift in celebration of this Midsummer wedding.

Housing

The Superior crafting facilities available from the LOTRO Store have been adjusted so they are all placeable in indoor or outdoor housing decoration hooks, and in smaller hooks where possible, in order to improve the flexibility of their placement. Small furniture items can still be placed in large and special furniture hooks. Small yard items can still be placed in large, huge, and enormous hooks.

Players can now designate a property as their Primary Residence in the Player House Info panel. Only one property can be specified as primary at a time, and Kinship properties cannot be selected.

Members of kinships that own a kinship house now earn a new "Travel to Kinship Member's House" skill. Use the new Visit button in the Social Kinship panel to visit any member who has specified a Primary Residence from their Character Houses panel. Clicking on the skill itself will always take you to the last property set from pressing the Visit button.

Items

The Imbued Legendary Item tier cap has been increased. There are now four additional levels for DPS/HPS Legacies, two of which can be unlocked, and two of which are granted for free.

Lost Lore: Tauralindalë - The housing item for this Lost Lore now contains a spoken audio recording of the Westron translation for this text.

Trophy items that cannot be turned in for tasks are no longer classified as task items. They will also no longer go into Task Carry-alls. Instead, these items will be classified as "Junk" and display as Junk in the item tooltips.

The following travel skill scrolls are no longer Indestructible: Return to Dale, Guide to Dale, Muster in Dale, Return to Járnfast, Guide to Járnfast, Muster in Járnfast, Return to Skarháld, Guide to Skarháld, Muster in Skarháld, Return to Hultvis, Guide to Hultvis, Muster in Hultvis, Return to Beorninghús, Guide to Beorninghús, Muster in Beorninghús, Return to Estolad Lân, Guide to Estolad Lân, Muster in Estolad Lân, Return to Limlók, Guide to Limlók, and Muster in Limlók.

Fixed an issue where crafting recipe totals would sometimes reflect the wrong totals calculated from Carry-all bag contents.

Carry-all bag sorting has been improved when items are added to an already-sorted list.

The Tome of the Swarm Bees can be bartered for even if you already have the skill trained.

Quests and Adventure Areas

Legendary Worlds

It is now possible to cancel Legendary Server endgame quests.

Quest: Legendary Mirkwood: Sammath Gûl - Now only bestows on Tier 2

Tournament of the Twins

Stacking XP buffs will no longer allow XP to be earned by running Instances.

The Register of Heroes now lists the top 250 players. Note: You can see your personal score in the chat every time you earn points, even if you are not high enough to appear on the Register of Heroes.

Remmorchant, The Net of Darkness

This raid has had some balance work done on Tier 4 and 5 difficulty.

Players who have completed the Deed Remmorchant, The Net of Darkness - Tier 3 can now barter for item level 430 Remmorchant class set gear. Trade-in Remmorchant set gear will also update to item level 430.

Tier 4 and 5 now have their own chests (previously they were shared with Tier 3)

Thossulun the Massive encounter adjustments:

Reduced the morale pools of the Daughters of Thossulun

Increased cooldown of Winged Grodbog's Poison Sting to 10 seconds (was 7). Now also has a 10 second initial cooldown.

Reduced damage of Grodbog Blight-spitter's Bombard

Increased cooldown and inital cooldown of Grodbog Blight-spitter's Bombard to 10 seconds (was 7)

Reduced damage of Grodbog Blight-spitter's Acid Spit

A number of largely non-visible changes have taken place to improve game performance in Minas Tirith.

Quest: A Treacherous Crevasses - This quest now bestows properly. If you had this quest underway, you will need to restart the quest.

Quest: Merchants of Avardin - Eva - A previously unreachable quest item has come out of hiding and is now reachable.

Deed: The Line of Kings: The Plaque for King Aldamar has been returned to its proper place.

Deed: The Orcs of Urugarth - Only Orcs count towards this deed now.

Stable-masters now use random appearance sets in most cases.

Half of all general stable-masters are now female.

Fixed a soft spot in a wall in Sungergrót.

Quest and item text has been corrected for A Message from Stangard.

Mash will now remove the correct amount of slimy slug meat from inventories when turned in.

Broken Longswords will now remove said swords from inventories when turned in for Tasks.

Typo corrections and other minor adjustments made in several quests.

Distant flickering and z-fighting has been addressed in a rendering rework. Distant geometry will now appear as intended, preserving a consistent depth and order.

DX10/11 dynamic shadows have had various artifacts corrected, such as shadow acne.

Various trees are no longer growing in the middle of bolders in southern Ered Luin.

Various spawns in a section of the Bonevales will no longer occur under ground.

Terrain seam in the Redhorn Gate has been fixed.

Floating debris in Gorthad has been removed.

Traits

Players can now earn up to 96 class trait points after completing the Great Wedding - The Wedding Banquet. Up to 95 class trait points can be spent in your class trait trees.

UI

A Clear button has been added to the Sound Filter UI.

Fixed the Smoky Black Pony/Horse preview in the Collections panel.

Fixed the Storm-cloud Pet preview in the Collections panel.

The Kinship panel has been rearranged to make better use of space.



Known Issues:
Monster Play - Slayer Deeds are not properly being bestowed to Monster Players when they defeat enemies. This only affects bestowal; any Monster Player who already has a Deed can still advance it. This will be corrected as soon as possible.

[TheArtilleryman]

Downtime Notice: Thursday, July 2nd 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT)
The LOTRO game worlds will be unavailable from 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) on Thursday, July 2nd to release Update 27.0.1.
Here are the Release Notes for Update 27.0.1, released on Thursday, July 2nd.

Epic Book

Epic Volume V, Book 1: 'A Time of Celebration' - Corrected an issue where the fireworks would sometimes fail to progress the Instance. The /cheer at the end of the ceremony is no longer an Objective.

Items

The following items are once again correctly tagged as task items: Dwarf Sword Sheath, Rock Tail, Stone-abdraded Skin, Withered Claw, Withered Ear, Calcified Carapaces, Lost Essences, Pebbled Filth, and Storn-worn Furs.

Midsummer Festival

The currency cap for Midsummer Tokens has been increased to 250.

Quest: Filled to the Brim - Drunken revellers will no longer rapidly disappear and reappear in place.

The Blue Theatre (Midsummer) will no longer send low level players back to their starting location on Anor, Ithil or Bombadil.

Removed an erroneous floating structure.

PvMP

Fixed an issue where Monster Player characters were unable to barter for food, potions, or other items.

Fixed an issue where Monster Player characters were unable to acquire Deeds.

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 27.1 Release Notes

Here are the Release Notes for Update 27.1, released on Wednesday, July 8th.

Of Special Note:

VIP Benefit - Town Services

VIPs can speak to Wenda Cranesbill in Bree or in any of the housing neighborhoods near their Task boards to accept a daily quest that awards:

A 48 hour Town Services item

This item opens a UI from which a player can choose Sell, Repair, Vault, Shared Storage, Wardrobe, and Auction House by default. The item provides a Forge and Relic Master services if the character is at least level 45 and in possession of the Seeker of Deep Places trait.

Subscriber's Jug that grants accelerated Crafting times and item wear prevention buffs for 48 hours.

News and Notes:

Items

The Wedding Celebration Pony pet cart will now properly produce fireworks.

Carry-all bags' default sorting method is no longer stomped on when placing an item in the bag. Selecting a sort category now sorts by ascending first, then descending. Fixed sorting issues with bag search bars, and they no longer require the enter key in order to update the list.

PvMP

The Monster Play "Capture an Outpost" quest will once again advance properly when you capture an outpost.

Quests and Adventure Areas

Midsummer Festival

Feredis, the Midsummer rewards barter vendor, now offers a Great Wedding Themes music box for your house.

Dobb Buckthorn now gives proper directions to festivities in Bree-town.

A Long-awaited Banquet - Samwise is now easier to select.

Arranging Arrangements - Fixed an issue where certain floral arrangement locations would become unselectable.

Toss a Coin - This quest will now sort to the Midsummer quest category and advance For Love of Midsummer and related quests/deeds properly.

UI

Fix for combined mesh artifacts, such as distant players with invisible or missing textures.

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 27.2 Release Notes


Here are the Release Notes for Update 27.2, released on Tuesday, August 4th 2020.



Of Special Note:


Helm's Deep Arrives to the Legendary Worlds!

Experience the finale of Rohan's Epic Story, and the beginning of all-out war in Middle-earth! The Legendary Worlds of Anor and Ithil now have a level cap of 95 in addition to the Helm's Deep expansion. Click here to learn more about our Legendary Worlds, which are available for free to all VIPs! Note that Helm's Deep also utilizes the Storied Tales system introduced in Update 27, which is a solo-able, story-focused alternative to an Epic Battle. Each of the five Helm's Deep Epic Battles now has a Storied Tale.

Fight for Rohan's survival, unearth the depth of Grima Wormtongue's treachery, unravel a mystery woven through the war-torn Westemnet, and defend the fortress at Helm's Deep! Players can also explore West Rohan, its once-serene fields now aflame and pillaged by gruesome servants of evil. Heroes are needed to stand in this time of danger!



Rohan Housing is now available!

The Lord of the Rings Online is expanding its premium player housing options with new homesteads set in Rohan! These new homesteads evoke two quintessential Rohan experiences; Kingstead Meadows and Eastfold Hills. Kingstead Meadows features living on the grassy plains and farmlands, while Eastfold Hills features living in the rugged and wooded foothills. Each neighborhood has an assortment of deluxe style properties along with two unique properties: a large Meadhall, and a deluxe style property with an extra interior. The Rohan Housing brokers are also selling over 50 new housing items, purchasable with in-game gold! Rohan Housing is available to purchase from the Rohan Housing Brokers named Burginda and Seleflad in Edoras and Snowbourn as well as the Eastfold Hills and Kingstead Meadows Homesteads.

Hitching Posts: A new hook that allows you to show off mounts from your collection.
Cosmetic Pets: Cosmetic pets can be hooked on most interior and exterior hooks.
Moveable light sources: These new hooks allow players to light rooms the way they want.
Fire Pit hooks: This is a new and uniquely sized hook for the Rohan Meadhalls.
Column Hook: The column hook acts like a wallpaper option for columns within the new Rohan Meadhalls.
New per-house storage: This is a new housing storage option that is separate from Shared Housing Storage.
Kinship Visit feature: Players can designate a primary residence, and allow their kinmates to visit from the Kinship panel.
Multiple interiors: Each Kingstead homestead has a main house and a barn, and both neighborhoods have a single homestead of a unique additional interior.
Neighborhood Reputation: Rohan homesteads are the first homesteads to each have their own reputation, where homeowners can advance their neighborly notoriety in the community, while unlocking new housing items and player titles.
Cosmetic Pets, per-house storage, and the kinship visit feature are available for every home, while the other features above are exclusive to Rohan Housing.
Click here to read more about Rohan Housing!



News and Notes:


Classes

Beorning
Beornings opening a "Valar Weapon Pack - 120" will now receive a bow instead of a one-handed sword.
Thunderous Roar's base cooldown has been reduced to 45 seconds.
The Legendary Item set bonus cooldown reduction has been reduced to -15 seconds maximum.
Tier 5 of Opposing Presence now adds +10 seconds to Biting Edge's cooldown (was +5s).
The skill Vicious Claws is now granted at level 20, down from level 40.
Burglar
The Wound effect applied by Enrage -> Clever Retort has been rebalanced. This effect was much too powerful due to a combination of modifiers that it was not intended to benefit from, and had too large a base effect multiplier. The effect has also been renamed to Malicious Wound for easier identification.
Captain
The Kick skill is now earned at level 20 instead of level 44.
The skill Cleanse Corruption is now granted at level 20, down from level 50.
The examination tooltip for the Captain skill, Noble Mark, has been updated to reflect the correct interval for personal heals.
Improved Threatening Shout has become Elendil's Roar. It is now granted as a base yellow line skill, with a base cooldown of 60 seconds.
Threatening Shout is now earned via a 2nd Tier yellow trait that replaces Strong Voice. It is no longer replaced by Improved Threatening Shout and can be learned by non-yellow Captains.
Elendil's Fury no longer grants a taunt effect to Blade of Elendil, and instead reduces the cooldown of Elendil's Roar to 30 seconds and increases its area of effect to ten targets.
Elendil's Fury now properly adds +4 targets to Elendil's Roar.
Champions
The Clobber skill is now earned at level 20 instead of level 30.
The Feral Strikes skill is now granted at level 20 instead of level 50.
Horn of Champions now applies a forced taunt effect on all targets it hits, in addition to its prior effects.
Deafening Horn now increases Horn of Champion's maximum targets by +2 per point, up to 10.
Guardian
The skill Improved Sting is now granted at level 20 instead of level 50.
Challenge's cooldown is now reduced by the Bellow trait.
The Challenge Set cooldown bonus has been reduced to six seconds.
Hunter
The skill Blindside is now a ranged immediate skill with a single attack hook. Its cooldown has been increased to 18 seconds.
The skill Blood Arrow is now available at level 20 instead of level 50.
The skill Blood Arrow now removes Corruptions.
The skill Merciful Shot no longer removes Corruptions.
Lore-master
The skills Blinding Flash and Improved Blinding Flash are now immediate.
The skill Dispel Corruption is now granted at level 20 instead of level 50. Its cooldown has been reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
Minstrel
All versions of the skill Piercing Cry are now immediate.
The Passive Trait Purify Corruption is now granted at level 20 instead of level 50.
Rune-keeper
The skill Final Word is now earned at level 20 instead of level 30.
The skills Final Word and Improved Final Word have had their cooldowns reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
The skill Improved Final Word now removes one Corruption from the target.
A new skill called "Speak No Evil" removes corruptions from the target, and is granted at level 20.
Warden
A new skill called Shield Slam is now granted at level 20. This skill is instant, interrupts target inductions, and has a cooldown of 20 seconds.
The skills Reversal and Ranged Reversal are now granted at level 20 instead of level 50.
The Defiance buff is now 32 seconds.
All warden melee skills range updated to 5.2m.

Warning Shot cooldown decreased (45s->10s).

Defiant Challenge cooldown increased (20s->30s).

Crafting

The character xp granted by planting fields has been made more consistent across crafting tiers and somewhat reduced in accordance with shorter planting induction times introduced with Update 25. Craft xp awards from Farming recipes remain unchanged, as do the character xp award from harvesting fields and processing the resultant crops.
Items

The Flared Hanging Lantern and Ornate Hanging Lantern housing decorations from the Midsummer Festival will now hang at an appropriate height by default when placed on a ceiling hook.
The Spear of the Storied Past will no longer unequip a shield when equipped, and will no longer override the appearance of shields when cosmetically equipped.
Fixed a typo with the Banquet Decoration - Selection Box.
The Sinister Black Cloak has been renamed to Sinister Black Robe and once again equips and sorts properly in the Auction House as a cosmetic for the chest slot rather than as a cloak.
LOTRO Store

Character Race Change (COMING SOON, not yet available in the LOTRO Store): Use this item to add a race change credit for use on any of your characters on this world. Logout to the character selection screen to begin your transformation. Please be aware you may only select from races available to your character class.

A Rohan Housing Set Bundle is now available that contains numerous cosmetic items for your homestead.

PvMP

Warleader's Command Post summoned banner will once again grant buffs to Monster Play characters within range.
The following Osgiliath Monster Play quests will once again advance properly: Conquering the Ornendil, Looking for Conflict, The Ornendil Bridge Belongs to Mordor, and The Belegiant Bridge Belongs to Mordor.
Monster player inventory, quest, and barter items should no longer have a red border unless they actually cannot be used due to class, rank, or other restrictions.
Quests and Adventure Areas

Premium housing brokers, Burginda, Nothwen, and Seleflad, will now allow you to barter mithril coins to receive premium housing writs.
The Housing quests "Building the Bree Homestead" and "There's No Place Like Home" are now available if you own any type of house.
Wenda Cranesbill (VIP Rewards) is now also available at Michel Delving, Celondim, and Thorin's Hall.
Midsummer Festival
Locations of beehives near Duillond have been adjusted.
Interacting with hungry guards in Minas Tirith is now easier.
The House of Lore now has more Wayward Verses, which all appear more frequently.
Wedding Supplies quest items will appear more frequently, and in more places.
Fireflies now appear more frequently, and in greater numbers.
Fixed a typo in the quest All Fired Up.
Toss a Coin now gives a Midsummer reward instead of a Spring Festival reward.
Mithril Travel has been fixed for the Midsummer quest Honoring Healers.
Remmorchant, the Net of Darkness: Thossulun the Massive
Aegerch, Daughter of Thossulun missed the first morale reduction her sisters received. Her morale is now also reduced.
Remmorchant - Shelob - Dwindling Amusement's time has been adjusted:
Tier 2: 17 Minutes
Tier 3: 18 Minutes (Unchanged)
Tier 4: 19 Minutes
Tier 5: 20 Minutes
Some landscape fixes have been done in southern Ered Luin, a section of the Bonevales, terrain in Redhorn Gate, and a spot in Gorthad.
The custom appearance settings from the Dimrill Dale stable-master have been removed.
Ciriel the Pastry Chef should no longer fall through the floor of Minas Tirith (Midsummer)
Logging out while part way through the Midsummer quest Toss a Coin will no longer cancel the quest.
Floating wall torches have been removed from above the entrance to Kingstead Meadows Neighborhood.
Mithril Travel has been fixed for the Midsummer quest Honoring Healers.
Store

A Rohan Housing Set Bundle is now available that contains numerous cosmetic items for your homestead.
UI

Various issues with the Travel to Kinship Member's House skill have been fixed.
The examination tooltip for the Travel to Kinship Member's House skill has been updated.
The /loc command has been modified to include the world name.
Known Issues:
Epic Battles are currently unavailable on Anor and Ithil while we fix a bug. We will be working to correct this in the near future. In the meantime our new Storied Tales are available to progress through Helm"s Deep on the Legendary Worlds.
Rohan Housing - Characters below level 86 cannot access the Rohan Kingstead Homesteads from the landscape entrances. They must speak to one of the housing brokers in Snowbourn or Edoras to either tour a house or purchase a house, and from there can use housing travel skills to access their neighborhood.

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 27.3 Release Notes

Here are the Release Notes for Update 27.3, released on Wednesday, August 19th.


News and Notes:

Miscellaneous
Farmer's Faire

Beginning this year, Farmer's Faire now includes prior Summer (Lithe) Festival content, including quests and seasonal instances. All Summer Festival tokens have been automatically converted into Farmer's Faire tokens. You will receive three Farmer's Faire tokens in your barter wallet for every Summer Festival token removed.

The festival horse race quests now count towards their specific festival quest completions.

Epic Battles are once again available on the Legendary Worlds.

The Lore-master skill Dispel Corruption has had its cooldown reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 27.3.2 Release Notes

Here are the Release Notes for Update 27.3.2, released on Thursday, September 3rd.

News and Notes

The LOTRO Store will now use the native system browser instead of the embedded in-game browser if the game client is run through Steam. This is being done to correct an issue where players were unable to make purchases using the Steam Wallet using the in-game web browser.

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 28 Release Notes
Here are the Release Notes for Update 28: War of Three Peaks, released on Tuesday, October 20th.

Of Special Note:

War of Three Peaks
Prince Durin, son of King Thorin Stonehelm, leads his armies to reclaim Gundabad, the Mountain-home of his people! As the Longbeards, Zhélruka, and Stout-axes assemble to lay siege to the great fortress, Orcs led by Gorgar the Ruthless, son of Bolg and brother of Mazog, meet them in battle -- the War of Three Peaks begins!

Amdân Dammul, the Bloody Threshold
"The final battle of the War of Three Peaks has begun. Prince Durin Stonehelmson of the Longbeards leads the Gabil'akkâ , a great host of united dwarves, to the very gates of Mount Gundabad. But Gorgar the Ruthless, son of Bolg, has one last surprise in store for those who would seek to usurp him...."

This up to 12 person raid is now available to run from difficulty Tiers 1 to 3! Tiers 4 and 5 will be released in the future.
Shakalush, the Stair Battle
"It is on the stairs of Bagûd-mekhem, the Gate of Winds, that a decisive battle of the War of Three Peaks is to be fought. There, caught between those loyal to Gorgar the Ruthless and Hrímil Frost-heart, the Gabil'akkâ hope to deal a devastating blow to both of these forces in a single stroke."

This six person instance is now available to run from difficulty Tiers 1 to 3! Tiers 4 and 5 will be released in the future.

Elderslade: Missions
"Prince Durin Stonehelmson of the Longbeards has declared his intention to retake Gundabad for the dwarves! He needs heroes like you to aid in the war effort if there is any hope of succeeding against the Orc army."

Missions are a new way for one or two people to play together between levels 20 and 130! Players can access the Missions hub by visiting a Gabil'akkâ Stable-master, located near other stable masters including:

Thorin's Gate
Gondamon
Bree-town
The Twenty-first Hall
Othrikar
Gabilshathûr
Glóin's Camp
Hrimbarg
Galtrev
The Dolven-view
Magh Ashtu
Járnfast
Erebor
Minas Tirith (Midsummer).
The Gabil'akkâ stable-masters will take you to the Annâk-khurfu (War Room) in Elderslade, where you can begin your experience with Missions. Missions are a great way to earn leveling loot and more, and are also an excellent way for players to level regardless of what level they are in the game. Check them out!

News and Notes:

Classes

Burglar
The burglar skill "Throw Knife" no longer advances the deed "Trickster" because it's not a trick.
The burglar skills Mischievous Glee, Mischievous Delight, Startling Twist, and Clever Retort no longer advance the deed "Perplexing Riddle".

Guardian
Thrill of Battle's cooldown has been reduced from 20 seconds to 8 seconds.
Stoic Bubble now provides a damage reduction during its effect rather than a heal on expiration.
Break Ranks now applies a group-wide buff rather than an individual buff. The skill is now triggered by Shield-taunt rather than Shield-smash. This buff can only be triggered once every 60 seconds.
Fortification can now begin rebuilding immediately after being cashed out.
Guardian Trait "Bellow" reduces Challenge's cooldown by 5 seconds per rank. The Trait tooltip has been updated to reflect this.

Champions
Horn of Champions trait now has two tiers - the first grants the skill, the second makes it taunt.
Deafening Horn trait now only has one tier, which grants the full effect bonus to the skill (+40% damage, +4 targets).
Hunter
Hunter trait "Strong Draw" affects only bow-skills, and its tooltip has been updated to reflect that.

Lore-master
The tooltip for the Lore-master trait set bonus "Fellowship Friend" has been updated to detail which buffs are offered by which pets. Additionally, the Eagle now gives the same buff as the Raven.

Minstrel
The tooltip for the skill Major Ballad (Resonance) has been corrected.
The minstrel skills "Call of the Second Age" and "Bolster Courage" will no longer advance the deed "Dynamic Performance".

Rune-keeper
The Rune-keeper deed "The Prophetic Word" can now be advanced by the skill "Scribe a New Ending".
The Rune-keeper skill "Scribe a New Ending" may be used while moving.

Warden
Light-type Damage DoTs from the Warden Trait Set-Bonus "Martial Fury" have been re-worked to scale properly with the player's primary weapon.
Warden Trait Set bonus "Makeshift Caltrops" will no longer affect enemies who are normally immune to Slowing effects.
The warden skills Marked Target, Diminished Target, and Fire At Will are now categorized as Javelin skills instead of Javelin gambits. This will not change the functionality of the trait Seize the Moment.
Items

Featured Instance and Featured Challenge armour sets now have appropriate max levels for their set bonuses.
The Tarnished Sigil of Gondor now goes into the Barter Wallet.
Elite Wilderland Skirmisher's Helms have been renamed to Coifs to match their recipe name.
Armour and Jewellery from Traveller's and Adventurer's Lootboxes will now have a maximum of +2 possible item level bumps.
Adventurer's gear, when opened at level 130, is now base item level 424, with the chance to create at up to item level 426.
The Curator now offers for barter Pet Bridles and Steed Harnesses for creating housing decorations from your skills.
The following Beorning armour sets have been converted from medium armour to heavy armour. Their appearances are unaffected. Armour of the Stag, Armour of the Beast of Glân Vraig, Armour of the Bulwark of Glân Vraig, Armour of the Thunderous Roar, Armour of the Osgiliath Claw, Armour of the Osciliath Hide, Armour of the Osgiliath Roar.
The Rune-keeper Legacy Replacement Scroll "Chill of Winter Damage" actually affects Frost damage. The item's description has been updated to reflect this.
Slade-wrought (Tier6) and Lesser Slade-wrought (Tier 5) essences are now available from the Adventurer's Quartermaster and Adventurer's Steel-bound lootboxes.
Filbert Fig has returned and has a new emote and several new housing decorations available for Figments of Splendour. Myrtle Mint has retired for the season. The cosmetics found in Steel-bound lootboxes have also rotated, and match those available from Filbert.
Quests & Adventure Areas
The number of Embers of Enchantment received for disenchanting armour and jewellery dropped in Minas Morgul Instances, War of Three Peaks Instances, and Askâd-mazal, the Chamber of Shadows has been halved, now that additional sources of Embers of Enchantment are now available.
Fixed a terrain texture issue in Cirith Ungol.
Defeat in the Glimmerdeep will no longer send players to far east side of Ered Mithrin.
A typo has been fixed in the quest To the Last Drop.
One of the dwarf-folk became a little too buoyant during the instance An Echo in the Mountains and has now been tethered to the floor.
One of the Frost-horde drakes in Legacy of Durin Chapter 1 was using fire attacks instead of frost attacks. He has now cooled down.
Lowered the hills surrounding the tower in the Eastfold neighborhood to improve the view.
Avan Brocktull no longer looks like a monstrosity/partial invisible horror. His fellow townfolk are quite relieved he's on the mend.
Z-fighting in Towers of the Teeth has been fixed.
The front door of 8 Ridge Road in the Eastfold Homestead is no longer always open.
Floating tree in Tal Bruinen has been removed.
A visual issue in Durthang has been fixed.
A floating rock in Imlad Balchorth has been removed.
Town person buried in a planter in the Midsummer Houses of Healing has been removed.
The milestone in Minas Tirith (Midsummer) no longer has custom text indicating it's in a different area.
The door to the Great Southern Guesthouse in Minas Tirith (Midsummer) is now labelled.
Physics has been added to reflecting pools in the Houses of Healing (Midsummer).
An inaccessible quest item in Carchost is now accessible.
An inaccessible resource node in Old Forest is now accessible.
A floating plow in the Shire has been grounded.
The quest level for Cords of Love has been set to 1 from 10.
Sapphire Firefly Lanterns now have their correct bug catching location name.
Typo fixed in Amethyst Firefly Lanterns.
A death spot in the Elf Allegiance Hall has been fixed.
A death spot in Bree-town has been fixed.
A stuck spot in northern Dor Amarth has been fixed.
A phasing issue on the Carrock in the Vales of Anduin has been fixed between the quests History Etched in Stone and The Pact of Paws and Wings.
UI
A toggle button has been added to the Trait Configuration panel for displaying Trait Specialization information.
A binding warning has been added to Essence socketing dialog.
Race and class information is now available in the character panel.
The game launcher now has an option to allow you to stay logged in for 8 hours. The down-arrow menu has an option to logout if you need to do so.
Virtues
Virtues can now go up to tier 72 for characters at level 130.
Misc
Login times for characters with a lot of completed deeds should be significantly faster.
Known Issues:
Due to an adjustment to crafted legendary items earlier this year, players may end up in a situation where there are negative ranks on their non-imbued Legendary Items. You can correct this problem by using a Scroll of Renewal to reset the Legendary points on the item.
Some terms in German are pending further review by the translators

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 28.1.1 Release Notes


Here are the release notes for Update 28.1.1, released on Tuesday, November 3rd.



News and Notes:

Items
The Mask of the Leaf-turner is now dyeable.

Treats and Trickery Costumes that were applying twice to Beornings should be fixed.

Treats and Trickery Costumes that were causing characters to T-pose in water should be fixed.

Boar mounts placed as housing decorations now play animations.

Quests and Adventure Areas
Completing any missions quest will now award 5 Motes of Enchantment, in addition to Gabil'akkâ War-marks.

A cap level weekly missions quest has been added as an additional source of Embers of Enchantment. This quest will automatically bestow if you are at the level cap and do level cap missions.

Ten new Elderslade deeds tracking your completion of missions quests have been added, and provide a source of Gabil'akkâ War-marks and Virtue XP. Complete them all to earn a new title.

The War Effort: Missions for the Cause (Weekly) now awards 400 Motes of Enchantment, up from 200.

March on Gundabad: Missions for the Cause now awards 42 Motes of Enchantment daily, up from 20.

Coming in the future with Update 28.2:

We will add a new Copper Coins of Gundabad for Embers quest.

Instance: Shakalush, The Stair Battle - Monsters should now spawn correctly in Duo Mode.

Known Issues:
Missions - Characters of different levels in Fellowship Duos need to acquire every quest in the “Available Quests” category on an NPC in order to be able to see the “Available Private Encounters” category, which is how you join Fellowship members already in a Mission Instance.

[TheArtilleryman]

Bullroarer, public test server release notes, 10 November 2020:

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=8045771#post8045771

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 28.1.2 Release Notes

Here are the release notes for Update 28.1.2, released on Thursday, November 12th.

News and Notes:

Items

Fixed a bug where loot would have incorrect item levels when awarded via loot rules that require rolling or a Fellowship leader loot assignment.

Quests and Adventure Areas

Cancelling mission quests will no longer incorrectly apply the daily reset timer. Cancelled mission quests can now be picked up again after waiting a few seconds.
When running missions in a Fellowship, joining the encounter started by a fellow will now always be an available option regardless of any quests still available from that NPC. Find encounters listed under 'Available Private Encounters' in the NPC dialog.
Instance: Shakalush: The Stair Battle - Duo Reward Chests will now spawn correctly.
Amdân Dammul, the Bloody Threshold:
Gorgar and Ránulur Encounter
Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented Frenzied Wargs from spawning.
Corrected an issue that was causing Gorgar's Lance Strike skill to not always distribute to nearby players when it looked like it should have. This skill will now distribute to players within 10 meters of his target.
The Shield of the Longbeards will no longer block Line of Sight.

Misc

Beornings will no longer tilt when walking on angled surfaces.

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 28.1.3 Release Notes


Here are the release notes for Update 28.1.3, released on Tuesday, November 17th.

News and Notes:

Miscellaneous:
Fixed a bug where combat skills would stay inactive after defeat.
The Tier 1 6 person version of Shakalush, The Stair Battle has reopened.
release notes

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 28.2 Release Notes
Here are the release notes for Update 28.2, released on Thursday, December 10th.

Of Special Note:
War of Three Peaks - Tier 5 now available!

Tier 5 difficulty of Shakalush, the Stair Battle and Amdân Dammul, The Bloody Threshold will become available on 12/10/20 at 12PM Eastern. The Leading the Charge / Ahead of the Curve deeds and titles will be available for both instances through 1/20/2021 (turning off 1/21/21@3:00 AM Eastern).

New Yuletide Hobbit Gifts!

Special winter gifts have been added to Hobbit Presents for the Yule festival season. Silver Hobbit Presents in the Boosts category and Gold Hobbit Presents in the Advanced Supplies category will come packaged with a special winter cosmetic. These seasonal gifts include housing decorations, cosmetic pets, and mounts. Rarely, your seasonal Yule gift will be a selection package of Yule Hobbit Present items from 2019. All special winter Hobbit Present gifts can now be disenchanted into 2 Yule Festival Tokens each using the Flame of Ancalamír, should you receive an unwanted or duplicate gift.

The Yuletide Festival begins on December 10th, starting at 10:00 AM Eastern, and the festival runs through January 4th, until January 5th at 3:00 AM Eastern.

Legendary Worlds: Gondor!

The Legendary Worlds of Anor and Ithil will have their level cap increase to 100 on December 16th, opening access to the regions of Western Gondor, Central Gondor, Eastern Gondor, and Old Anórien. This content includes The Paths of the Dead, Gondor Aflame, Ashes of Osgiliath, and The Siege of Minas Tirith. Read more about our Legendary Worlds on LOTRO.com! Arrives to the Legendary Worlds of Anor and Ithil on December 16th starting at 10:00 AM Eastern.

News and Notes:

Classes
Reference values have been fixed for the Loremaster Analysis skill.
Items
Statted Legendary Titles have been buffed across all level ranges. LI Titles will better reflect the content that gives them out.

Fellowship Tradeable items now show whether they're Bind to Account or Bind to Character in examination tooltips.

Fixed a bug where Fellowship Tradeable items would always Bind to Account when the owner is still logged in.

New Legendary Item Titles, a new portrait frame, housing items, and more have been added to the March on Gundabad Quartermaster. The new Legendary Item titles and portrait frame are available at Kindred for Supply Pack barter, and the new housing decorations are available at Kindred for Copper Coins of Gundabad barter.

New housing items have been added to the Gabil'akkâ Quartermaster.

A new Legendary Item title has been added as a reward for Tier 3+ completion of the Remmorchant raid.

Cosmetic pet huorns now have more appropriate sounds while moving.

Crossbows will remain sheathed during the Stoic Pose emote.

Traveller's Steel-bound Lootboxes now have a selection of Yuletide-appropriate items for a limited time, including two new hobby horses, a goat wearing a sweater, a cask-laden donkey pet, and a mount.
A Cask-laden Donkey cosmetic pet has been added to Adventurer's and Traveller's Lootboxes as well as being barterable from Filbert Fig for Figments of Splendour.
Universal crafting ingredients have been added as a possible consumable item drop from Adventurer's and Traveller's lootboxes.

A Rare Crafting Component selection box (crafting tiers 2 - 12) has been added as a possible crafting resource drop from Traveller's lootboxes.

An Elderslade Supply Pack has been added as a rare crafting resource drop from Adventurer's lootboxes.

Adventurer's lootbox gear, when opened at level 130, will now create at item level 428, with the chance to create at up to item level 430.
Boar mounted Jump animation is smoother for all races. Boar mounting animation has been fixed for all races.

PvMP
Update 28.2 brings some behind-the-scenes work to PvMP in the game that will allow us to better control balance in the future.
Creeps now receive a generic multiplier to base HP and Damage to help keep pace with player itemization, this multiplier can also be quickly updated to let us bump creeps whenever new content is released with higher item level itemization for Free Players.
Lots of tweaking to specific Creep base rating values as well as trait and skill ratings values.
Creeps will now generally start with significantly better ratings even before they add corruptions.
Physical Mitigation corruptions now also give B/P/E boosts.
Tactical Mitigation Corruptions now also give Resistance.
Resistance corruptions still exist, but they will probably be replaced/altered when we have a chance to expand the corruption tray and do a more deliberate pass on corruptions.
Updated a lot of morale/power regen sources, including monster player skills/traits, and many consumables for both freeps and creeps.
A number of area of effect abilities are now non-Fellowship dependent.
Upgraded guards, keep defenders, and landscape mobs in The Ettenmoors:
All guards/defenders get an increase to general mitigation/finesse stats.
Creep guards/defenders gain a larger HP increase and a medium damage increase.
Freep guards/defenders gain larger damage increase and a medium HP increase.
Landscape mobs gain a more modest increase to morale and damage.
Teleportals are no longer usable in combat:
Center Keep backdoor.
Creep/Freep entrances to the Ettendeep.
General tweaks to Creep stats:
Modestly reduced Creep vitality bonus.
More signifcantly reduced Creep healing.

Random Bugfixes:
Balanced out the damage on some Reaver multi-hit skills.
Blackarrow snare damage reduction.
Gash and Steadfast Barrage traits no longer conflict.
Steadfast barrage damage and range reduced.
Steadfast barrage toggle now cancels past 30m (this checks infrequently, so your exact distance may vary).
Upper Hand trait now properly increases block/parry reduction.

Quests and Adventure Areas
The mount restriction for picking up various item nodes (e.g. blueberries, honey, and taters) has been removed.
The French and German Breeland maps have been updated to include the Breeland Homesteads.
Mithril travel and quest guides have been fixed for quests What Ales You and Emerald Fireflies.
All mount types can now be used in Thorin's Hall.

Missions
Characters of different levels in Fellowship Duos no longer need to acquire every quest in the “Available Quests” category on an NPC in order to be able to see the “Available Private Encounters” category.
Cancelling mission quests will no longer incorrectly apply the daily reset timer. Cancelled mission quests can now be picked up again after waiting a few seconds.

Frostbluff
For players who have access to missions, a new quest has been added to Frostbluff. See Mara Sandydowns for an additional opportunity to earn Yule festival Tokens.
A new music track by Bill Champagne has been added.

Annak-khurfu
Thetmarr and Likmund will now properly keep their game of 'Hammers and Bones' out of your chat log when you are visiting.

Kingstead
Fixed a flow issue with 'Instance: The Road To Dunharrow' where players could get stuck if they followed Ur into the Paths of the Dead.

Midsummer
Firefly Mithril travel and Quest guide locations fixed.
Lightning in a Bottle - Quests will no longer erroneously say 'Completed' in the dialogue window before placing the lanterns.

Moria
Consolidated four Moria tabs into a single tab on the Rhovanion page of the Deed Log.

Mirkwood
Saebereth, Queen of the Saewethil, will no longer display her name before she jumps down to fight during 'Instance: Mazog in the Web'.

Misthallow
Adjusted several Mithril Travel destinations.

Shades in the Swamp
Addressed some Quest Guide issues with the shades in 'Ghostly Figures'.

The Shire
Fixed the missing Quest Guide for 'Eggs for Gammer Tunnelly'.

Vales of Anduin
The Crumpled Note can now be read from the quest tracker during 'Grimbeorn's Interruption'.

War of Three Peaks
Shakalush, The Stair Battle
The Boss 3 gate now opens.
Duo Reward Chests will now spawn correctly.
Quest - Pilfering Orkish Orders - has been grounded. Orkish Orders will no longer be floating in the air.
Fixed a typo in quest "Routing the Spies".

Wildermore
Banners for the quest What Waits at Byre Tor will now respawn more slowly.
The Search of Gársig's Farm - players who were stuck on this quest should be able to complete it now.

Miscellaneous
French Map Updates: Breeland, Ered Luin, la Porte de Thorin, Eregion, le Val-d'Aïeul, la guerre des Trois Sommets, Ered Mithrin et la Lande desséchée, les résidences de l'Estfolde, les résidences des prairies de Terre-du-Roi, Rohan Ouest, Dor Amarth, et Torech Ungol
German Map Updates: Breeland, die Mauren von Moria (mit Hulstentor), Ered Luin, Thorins Tor, Eregion, Eriador, Ältestental, der Kreig der Drei Gipfel, Seidlung Ostfold-Hügel, Seidlung von Königsstattweiden, West-Rohan, Minas Morgul, Belagertes Mordor (3440 Z.Z), Dor Amarth, und Torech Ungol
English Map Updates: Ered Luin, Thorin's Gates
French: Updated text, corrected typos throughout the game
German: Updated Text, corrected typos throughout the game
German: Updated the term '‘Auftragsanschlagtafel’ to 'Aufgabenbrett' for improved display. Updated and unified terms for 'Poinsettien' and 'Rufstufe'. Updated and unified 'Bestechungsgold'.
You will no longer hear rain and thunder on the character selection screen when logging out of a stormy area.

[TheArtilleryman]

Update 28.2.1 Release Notes


Here are the release notes for Update 28.2.1, released on Wednesday, December 16th.


News and Notes:

Miscellaneous
The terrain around Kings Crossing in Evendim has been adjusted to allow southbound stable travel routes to function more reliably.

The resistance rating granted by Anórien Bean and Tater Soup and its Superior version has been adjusted to a more appropriate value.

Fixed an issue where you could not replace an existing Tier 3 title on a Legendary Item with a different tier 3 title of the same type.

Fixed an issue with the sizing of the Eriador map in German.

Added some text to the German client that was improperly displaying in English.