Fanforran
One is not Amused
Book 11: Defenders of Eriador!
Welcome to the latest free update for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar! Below are the update notes for Book 11: Defenders of Eriador.
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 250 decorations to mix-and-match, including paint for walls and floors, rugs, bookshelves, welcome mats, scenic paintings, even background music!
New Content:
* Continued the epic quest arc!
o 13-quest arc for Book 11
* More musical instruments!
New Areas:
* High level world content
o T�l Bruinen (in Trollshaws)
o Northern High Pass (in Misty Mountains)
o Southern High Pass (in Misty Mountains)
o Goblin-town (in Misty Mountains)
* And� introducing a new level 50 epic 12-player raid: The Rift of N�rz Gh�shu
o 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 Forthn�r, led by the Elf-lord Iorelen, are now keeping tabs on this expedition and need your help!
* This new area features:
o 7 new Rift Class Armour sets
o 7 new Rift Class-restricted weapons
o And 7 new monsters!
Monster play:
* Monster play class additions
* Monster player "warband maneuvers"
* Diminishing returns on Crowd Control skills
Classes:
* Month of the Lore-master
o Filled out level 40-50 skills
o Better skills for fighting Undead, Drakes and Creatures of Nature
o A new pet!
o Examine enemy weakness ability
o Cute "critter" pets - 8 non-combat pets
* Month of the Minstrel
o Filled out level 40-50 skills
o Enhanced music features:
+ Minstrels will be able to train other players to use instruments both directly and via created items
+ 3 new instruments
o More effective solo play:
+ War-Speech toggle stance opens up new skills
+ New damage-type instruments
o Better buffing and support
o Better healing
General Skills
* Tier-based cures are here!
Of Special Note:
* Epic Quests: The next chapter in the epic adventure 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!
o /joinchannel [password]' will create a channel (or join, if already existing) in the next free slot
o /leavechannel ' will exit a user channel, if already in it
o /userchat# ' or '/uc# ' will send a message to the channel of the slot specified
o /userchat ' or '/uc ' will send a message to the named chat channel if you're already a member of that channel
o You can also use /1, /2, /3, or /4 to talk in your user-defined chat channels.
* Better loot feedback: Display Need vs. Greed selections, and toggle back to Pass/Roll
* Monster play: 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.
* User Interface: The UI team has been working hard to provide further improvements to scalable UI as well as additional tooltip UI enhancements!
* Let the Band play on! Synchronized ABC songs! Everyone in a fellowship can now start playing a song at the same time.
* 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.
* Cancelling Auctions: Auctions can now only be cancelled within the first hour after creation.
* Fear: Fear should properly break on damage.
o Fear effects were not causing monsters to call for help as they should have when the fear wore-off.
* Monster play: 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.
o 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.
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.
* 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.
* 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
* 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, 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 the vital-stat adjustments that will be applied to the target during examination.
* 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
o "Small Shield Spikes" = 5 Minutes
o "Medium Shield Spikes" = 10 Minutes
o "Large Shield Spikes" = 15 Minutes
o "Westernesse Spikes" = 10 Minutes / 15 Minutes For Critical Success Version
o "Ancient Dwarf Spikes" = 10 Minutes / 15 Minutes For Critical Success Version
o "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:
o Tracking a stealthed target will now automatically detect that target for the tracker.
o Tracked players are no longer shared with your Fellowship.
o 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.
o Players who are tracked will be notified that someone is following them.
o 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."
Welcome to the latest free update for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar! Below are the update notes for Book 11: Defenders of Eriador.
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 250 decorations to mix-and-match, including paint for walls and floors, rugs, bookshelves, welcome mats, scenic paintings, even background music!
New Content:
* Continued the epic quest arc!
o 13-quest arc for Book 11
* More musical instruments!
New Areas:
* High level world content
o T�l Bruinen (in Trollshaws)
o Northern High Pass (in Misty Mountains)
o Southern High Pass (in Misty Mountains)
o Goblin-town (in Misty Mountains)
* And� introducing a new level 50 epic 12-player raid: The Rift of N�rz Gh�shu
o 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 Forthn�r, led by the Elf-lord Iorelen, are now keeping tabs on this expedition and need your help!
* This new area features:
o 7 new Rift Class Armour sets
o 7 new Rift Class-restricted weapons
o And 7 new monsters!
Monster play:
* Monster play class additions
* Monster player "warband maneuvers"
* Diminishing returns on Crowd Control skills
Classes:
* Month of the Lore-master
o Filled out level 40-50 skills
o Better skills for fighting Undead, Drakes and Creatures of Nature
o A new pet!
o Examine enemy weakness ability
o Cute "critter" pets - 8 non-combat pets
* Month of the Minstrel
o Filled out level 40-50 skills
o Enhanced music features:
+ Minstrels will be able to train other players to use instruments both directly and via created items
+ 3 new instruments
o More effective solo play:
+ War-Speech toggle stance opens up new skills
+ New damage-type instruments
o Better buffing and support
o Better healing
General Skills
* Tier-based cures are here!
Of Special Note:
* Epic Quests: The next chapter in the epic adventure 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!
o /joinchannel [password]' will create a channel (or join, if already existing) in the next free slot
o /leavechannel ' will exit a user channel, if already in it
o /userchat# ' or '/uc# ' will send a message to the channel of the slot specified
o /userchat ' or '/uc ' will send a message to the named chat channel if you're already a member of that channel
o You can also use /1, /2, /3, or /4 to talk in your user-defined chat channels.
* Better loot feedback: Display Need vs. Greed selections, and toggle back to Pass/Roll
* Monster play: 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.
* User Interface: The UI team has been working hard to provide further improvements to scalable UI as well as additional tooltip UI enhancements!
* Let the Band play on! Synchronized ABC songs! Everyone in a fellowship can now start playing a song at the same time.
* 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.
* Cancelling Auctions: Auctions can now only be cancelled within the first hour after creation.
* Fear: Fear should properly break on damage.
o Fear effects were not causing monsters to call for help as they should have when the fear wore-off.
* Monster play: 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.
o 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.
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.
* 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.
* 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
* 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, 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 the vital-stat adjustments that will be applied to the target during examination.
* 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
o "Small Shield Spikes" = 5 Minutes
o "Medium Shield Spikes" = 10 Minutes
o "Large Shield Spikes" = 15 Minutes
o "Westernesse Spikes" = 10 Minutes / 15 Minutes For Critical Success Version
o "Ancient Dwarf Spikes" = 10 Minutes / 15 Minutes For Critical Success Version
o "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:
o Tracking a stealthed target will now automatically detect that target for the tracker.
o Tracked players are no longer shared with your Fellowship.
o 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.
o Players who are tracked will be notified that someone is following them.
o 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."