Update 45: Allies and Adversaries Release Notes

Here are the release notes for Update 45: Allies and Adversaries, released on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025. 

Of Special Note:

The Ettenmoors has received a big update!

The Ettenmoors has received significant updates with the release of a Siege mechanic and more! These changes are far-reaching and aim to alter the gameplay in the Ettenmoors by providing a large number of fluid events that can influence and tip the scale of battle. We have added more mechanics in the form of rewards for taking and holding the towers of Lugazag and Tírith Rhaw, new relics and buffs in a new area called The Underseaths, accessible by controlling a forward camp on the landscape of the Ettenmoors, and new vendors with buffs available once you take control of outposts. This is one of the largest changes made to the game play flow of the Ettenmoors in several years. Further information about these changes can be found lower in the release notes.

The Monster Player Reward Track Season 2 will soon be available!

Along with other major changes to the Ettenmoors we will debut Season 2 of the Monster Player Reward Track! This reward track is available will be made available on the LOTRO Store, and we will announce when the track will become active. Completing the track earns you a currency called Marta, which can be used to claim new rewards! Further details are available in the release notes.

Birding has been expanded!

Birding has been expanded once again! This time around, birding reaches into the lands of both Mordor and Gondor, with nine new territories to discover birds in. These new territories are Anórien, Ithilien, Lossarnach, Lebennin, Belfalas, Lamedon, Waste, Agarnaith, and Lhingris. Within these, there are over 120 new birds to discover amongst these territories. Find all the rarest of these birds to gain a new title. Along the way, discovering all the birds in certain territories will grant you other rewards, from new pictures to hang up in your houses to even a few new Baubles to collect. The birds are calling and eagerly awaiting those birding enthusiasts, so get out there and explore!

News and Notes:

Class Changes:

Hunter:

  • Hunter class trait saved configurations have been reset due to changes to the trait trees.​
  • Hunter damage has been increased across the board. Note that some skills have received greater increases than others.
  • General Skills:
    • Quick Shot:
      • Quick Shot Power cost has been removed.
      • Quick Shot is now usable while moving, even when it has an induction when specialized in red or yellow line.
    • Stances:
      • Hunter stances have been removed. Over the years, players have generally landed on either Precision or Strength as being the “best” stance and then stuck to that stance 100% of the time (until a balance patch changed the stances themselves). The stances themselves never meaningfully altered any skills (Quick Shot only received relatively minor changes, and Hunter's Art was removed years ago - no other skills were impacted by your stance) and they were arguably made obsolete by trait specialization trees. Given that they add very little to active gameplay, these skills are being phased out completely.
    • Purge Poison:
      • Purge Poison will remove 1 effect of any type, and a second poison.
      • Purge Poison no longer has an animation, and is usable while moving.
      • Cooldown increased 5 seconds > 10 seconds
    • Blindside:
      • Blindside no longer generates Focus.
    • New: Oromë’s Arrow:
      • Hunters gain a new skill for the purpose of corruption removal: Oromë’s Arrow.
      • This skill deals low damage and remove one active corruption on your target.
      • Cost: 2 Focus
      • 7 second Cooldown
    • Blood Arrow:
      • Blood Arrow has been adjusted to reduce the number of competing mechanics it interacts with. It is now primarily a healing skill, though traits can impact its Focus cost and healing or damage done.
      • Blood Arrow no longer cleanses corruptions.
      • Blood Arrow no longer has any interaction with Exsanguinate.
      • Blood Arrow’s Power cost has been increased slightly.
      • Just a note: Power costs have been rebalanced across the class, so while Blood Arrow's power cost is going to increase, your regular power drain from offensive skills should go down.
    • Cry of the Hunter:
      • Cry of the Hunter no longer Dazes enemies by default. This Daze is now a bonus effect granted by a legendary Tracery.
      • Run speed potency has been increased 10% > 20%. Run speed duration halved from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
      • Bubble potency has been increased to 15% of your maximum morale. Bubble duration reduced 30 seconds > 7 seconds.
    • Beneath Notice:
      • Cooldown reduced from 5m to 1m.
      • Effect changed from -60% threat to -45% (because the baseline value for a DPS spec is now 0.5)
    • Intent Concentration:
      • Cooldown reduced from 3m to 2m.
    • Find the Path:
      • Find the Path now increases movement speed by 25% by default. Note: this is an Area of Effect buff and it only improves your out of combat run speed. It has no impact on combat.
    • Bright Camp-fire:
      • The fire lasts for only 60 seconds but now provides significantly increased regen values.
    • Focus (Skill):
      • Focus no longer becomes “Improved Focus” at level 66.
      • The buff conferred by “Improved” Focus has always been a bit awkward. It gave you a big damage boost but only for a few skills in a quick opening burst, and it required you to channel Focus beforehand. It was arguably too strong in PvP (where an opening burst sometimes begins and ends a fight) too weak in PvE (where your opening 5 second burst is often just a tiny fraction of a combat encounter’s total time) and frustrating to use on landscape (where you’re free to channel Focus as much as you want, but stopping to do so before every pull becomes tedious).
  • Trait Specializations:
    • The Huntsman:
      • For the Huntsman, the following changes aim to keep the gameplay distinct from Bowmaster. With no inductions and greater access to bleeds and Melee Damage, the Huntsman playstyle should retain its focus on mobility and flexibility with the ability to deal potent burst damage through a combination of bleed cashouts and rapid-fire Focus spender skills.
        • The Hunstman no longer has any skill inductions (this replaces the previous effect of inductions being usable on the move).
        • Specializing in the Huntsman reduces the range of your ranged skills by 5m.
        • Specializing in the Huntsman no longer removes the miss chance penalty on movement; this trait is now buyable in the tree (via the trait: "The Chase").
      • Scourging Blow:
        • Scourging Blow’s cooldown has been increased from 5 seconds to 12 seconds.
      • Barrage:
        • Barrage 1 and 2 cooldowns have been reduced to 0.5 seconds
      • Merciful>Huntsman's Shot:
        • Merciful Shot becomes Huntsman’s Shot
        • Usable regardless of target’s health
        • Cost: 4 Focus
        • Cooldown: 25 seconds
      • Nock on the Move:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
      • Precision:
        • This trait grants you the effect formerly associated with Precision Stance: passively generating Focus over time.
      • Lingering Wound:
        • This trait grants the skill Lingering Wound.
        • Lingering Wound’s bleed now only tiers up to a max rank of 3. This bleed is now a removable Physical effect and tiers down if removed, but will disappear entirely at any rank if it is allowed to expire.
      • Fleetness:
        • Fleetness is once again an active skill, granted by this trait.
        • Fleetness (the skill) now grants you +35% Movement speed, slow and root immunity, and 1 Focus every 3 seconds for 10 seconds.
        • 60 seconds cooldown
      • Earthborn:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
        • Cutting Wound:
          • Low Cut gains the ability to apply or tier up Lingering Wound.
      • Improved Fleetness:
        • As these effects are already part of Fleetness, this trait has been removed and replaced with:
      • Agile Rejoinder:
        • Agile Rejoinder heals you a moderate amount for each enemy struck in a frontal arc.
        • Agile Rejoinder is no longer a parry-response skill.
        • Cost: 3 Focus
        • 15 seconds cooldown
      • Intensified Fire:
        • This effect is now only triggered by Focus Spender skills, but its buff grants +Ranged Damage rather than Physical Mastery.
      • Merciful Blades:
        • 3 Ranks
        • Merciful Shot grants you a short buff (10 seconds) increasing your Melee Damage (5% - 15%).
      • Pathfinder:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
        • The Chase:
          • You no longer receive a Miss Chance penalty while moving.
      • Split Shot:
        • Split Shot now costs 3 Focus rather than 2.
        • Split Shot Damage has been reduced by 15%.
        • Split Shot no longer has an induction, and is now appropriately treated as a Focus Spender skill rather than an induction/Focus Builder skill.
      • Blood Arrow:
        • Each rank of this trait also increases the Focus cost and Power cost of Blood Arrow.
        • Rank 2 no longer reduces the cooldown of Blood Arrow.
      • Shot Through the Heart > Relentless:
        • This trait no longer affects the skill Heart Seeker (limiting it to Huntsman’s Shot or Merciful Shot).
      • Strong Draw > Strong Arm:
        • This trait no longer has a 6th rank or the effect from that rank.
        • Strong Draw max potency has been reduced from 25% to 10%.
        • Note: this trait was bugged and was impacting the wrong set of skills. Its high base value also had a significant skewing impact on the effects of other damage bonuses. As a low-level/general damage trait, this trait was much too potent. That potency is better found in the base damage of your skills.
      • Close Quarters:
        • 4 Ranks
        • This trait increases your Melee Skill Damage (+2.5%-10%) and Bleed Cashout Damage (3%-15%).
      • Volley:
        • Because blue-line has no inductions by default, Volley’s effect has been replaced by:
        • Focus Spenders give you a +Ranged Damage buff (2-10%). This effect can stack up to 3 times but will be removed by using a Ranged Focus Builder skill.
      • Exsanguinate:
        • Exsanguinate no longer has any relation to or interaction with Blood Arrow. Instead, Focus Builder Skills now have a 5-15% chance to make Exsanguinate available to use.
        • Exsanguinate’s Bleed duration has been reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.
        • Exsanguinate’s cooldown has been reduced from 20 seconds to 5 seconds.
        • Exsanguinate now costs 2 Focus to use.
      • Strength of the Earth:
        • Strength of the Earth has moved to the yellow tree.
      • Moving Target:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
      • Wounded Prey:
        • From the yellow tree, this trait has moved to the Huntsman tree along with Lingering Wound itself.
    • The Bowmaster
      • For the Bowmaster, the following changes aim to maintain the status quo of the resolute long-range archer, releasing a continuous stream of high damage arrows as long as you’re able to manage your Focus and use inductions relatively uninterrupted. You may notice that several passive sources of Induction reduction have been removed from the outline below. Passive induction reduction has crept up so high over the years that many Bowmaster Hunters have grown accustomed to having at least -75-85% Induction durations at all times. In these changes, we’ve pulled back on that a bit in exchange for higher direct damage, slowing down the flow of skill use a little bit in favor of more potent individual arrows.
      • Specializing in the Bowmaster no longer grants the Needful Haste proc effect.
      • Specializing in the Bowmaster no longer grants the skill Pinning Shot.
      • Specializing in the Bowmaster now increases your Ranged Damage by 10%.
      • Specializing in the Bowmaster now grants the skill: Long Shot.
        • Long Shot is a new moderately damaging skill, granting 3 Focus, with a 25% chance to grant an additional 3 Focus if it lands.​
        • 1.0 second Induction​
        • 7 second Cooldown​
      • Swift Release:
        • This trait has been removed.
      • Shoot to Kill:
        • This trait's Damage bonus has been increased from 5% to 10%.
      • Archer’s Mark:
        • This trait has moved to the Trapper line and been replaced by:
      • Strong Draw:
        • This trait reduces the Focus cost of Penetrating Shot from 3 to 2.
      • Swift Mercy:
        • This trait no longer changes the Merciful Shot health threshold or lowers its focus cost progressively over time. Instead, it now gives Swift Bow a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of Merciful Shot and make it usable regardless of your target’s health.
      • Heart Seeker:
        • This trait now grants the skill Heart Seeker, making it a Bowmaster exclusive.
        • Heart Seeker now generates 5 Focus, and is thus treated as a Focus Builder skill.
      • Burn Hot:
        • Swapping places with Hidden Stalker, this trait grants you the skill Burn Hot, making it a Bowmaster exclusive.
        • Burn Hot’s default potency has been increased from 20% > 30%.
        • Burn Hot’s default cooldown has been reduced from 2m to 1 minute 30 seconds.
      • True Shot:
        • This trait now increases Penetrating Shot Damage (5%-25%). It no longer grants or improves a Critical Vulnerability debuff.
      • Fast Draw:
        • The Quick Shot buff granted by this trait now has a duration of 12 seconds, up from 6 seconds.
      • Swift and True:
        • The bonus effect granted by rank 5 of this trait has been changed to:
        • Each arrow loosed by Swift Bow gains a 30% chance to generate an additional Focus. (This chance is reduced to 10% when specialized in the Huntsman.)
      • Quick Escape:
        • This trait has moved to the yellow trait tree.
      • Bow of the Righteous:
        • Bow of the Righteous no longer grants a new skill. This trait now adds the effects of Bow of the Righteous to Intent Concentration.
      • Strength:
        • With stances removed, this trait is now a simple a passive bonus granting +Ranged Damage.
      • Mercy Kill:
        • This trait now grants +5-15% Merciful Shot Damage and +2.5-10% Critical Damage.
      • Hunter’s Blood:
        • 4 Ranks
        • Each rank grants:
        • +20% Blood Arrow Damage​
        • -2% Initial Heal Potency​
        • -20% Power Cost​
      • Hidden Stalker:
        • This effect has been removed.
      • Rain of Arrows:
        • Rain of Arrows' cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 6 seconds.
      • Storm of Arrows:
        • With its lower base cooldown, the active cooldown reduction from this trait has been reduced from 2 seconds to 1 second per critically hit target.
      • Long Shot:
        • 3 Ranks
        • Increases Long Shot Damage 5-20%.
        • Increases Long Shot's bonus Focus Chance 5-25%.
      • In for the Kill:
        • 2 Ranks
        • The first rank of this trait now grants Heart Seeker its bleed.
        • Each rank increases all Damage over Time Damage by 5%.
      • Upshot:
        • Upshot’s cooldown has been increased 15 seconds > 20 seconds.
        • Upshot now uses a Focus-cashout multiplier to deal its bonus damage based on the amount of Focus consumed. This does not change the potency of Upshot's Focus Damage multiplier, but it does mean that when you are at full Focus, regular +Damage buffs will improve Upshot's Damage by a value closer to what you'd expect, as those additive +Damage effect will no longer be diluted by the large multiplier from Focus. It also means you will not see the damage of Upshot change on its tooltip at various Focus levels. That bonus damage is now only calculated at the moment the skill is used.
    • The Trapper of Foes
      • For the Trapper of Foes, the following changes aim to overhaul this specialization into one capable of matching other true support specializations (yellow-line Lore-master, Burglar, and Mariner). These changes should minimize this specialization’s focus on traps and roots, which are both awkward to use in combat and functionally less useful than the abilities available to other classes. In their place, the yellow-line Hunter now has greater access to more useful CC like stuns, mezzes, and knockdowns delivered with more ranged skills and more interaction with your Focus resource.​
        • Lingering Wound has moved to the Huntsman specialization.

        • Traps no longer become inductionless or usable on the move.

        • Specializing in this tree now grants the skill Pinning Shot.

        • Specializing in this tree grants the skill Explosive Decoy.

        • Specializing in this tree grants the skill Kingsfoil Knowledge
      • Explosive Decoy:
        • Explosive Decoy now has significantly reduced morale, allowing it to detonate almost immediately after it is attacked and without waiting for an arbitrary delay.
        • Explosive Decoy now detonates after 3 seconds if it does not receive damage.
      • Kingsfoil Healing
        • Kingsfoil Healing is a new targeted skill which heals a modest amount of Morale and applies 'Resilient Morale' which increases the target's incoming healing (this effect is shared with Water-lore).
      • Archer’s Mark:
        • Archer’s Mark now has a 50% application chance.
        • Archer’s Mark’s effect potency has been increased (+7.5% at max tier) and its max tier has been reduced to 3 from 5.
        • Archer's Mark now lasts 10s at tier 1, 15s at tier 2, and 20s at tier 3.
      • Triple Trap:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
      • Hail of Arrows:
        • Grants the skill Hail of Arrows, which tear through the armour of a large group of enemies, applying Minor Rent Armour (-10% Physical Mitigation, -8% Tactical Mitigation for 20s).
        • Cost: 3 Focus
        • 15 second Cooldown
      • Master Trapper:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
        • Suppressing Stings:
          • The skill Focus (or Combat Focus) will make your next Focus Spender Skill apply ‘Weakness’ to your target(s).
          • Weakness will apply x0.9 Outgoing Damage for 30 seconds.
      • Strong Intimidation:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with Dazing Blow (making it a yellow-spec exclusive skill).
      • Heightened Senses:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with Tripwire (making it a yellow-spec exclusive skill).
        • Tripwire’s cooldown has increased from 30s to 2m.
        • In combat, Tripwire would become Tangle-dart, a targeted ranged skill with a 90 seconds cooldown.
        • Tripwire (or Tangle-dart) is now guaranteed to initiate a Fellowship Manoeuvre on its target.
      • Compact Payloads:
        • This trait reduces the cooldown of Distracting Shot by 60 seconds.
      • Sturdy Traps:
        • This trait has moved into the trait tree and been replaced with:
      • Explosive Arrow:
        • Explosive Arrow applies Major Rent Armour (15% for 15s, then 12.5% for 15s)
        • Explosive Arrow is now a regular Area of Effect skill, hitting enemies in an area around your target (rather than a ground-targeted skill).
      • Set Trap:
        • This trait grants the eponymous skill: Set Trap.
      • Natural Extracts:
        • This trait has been removed.
      • Hindering Shot:
        • 5 Ranks
        • Rank 1 adds the Hindering Shot slow to Barbed Arrow (-10% speed, 5 second duration)
        • Subsequent ranks each increase the potency of the slow by 5%.
      • Combat Focus:
        • 1 Rank
        • Focus becomes usable in combat, granting 9 Focus. In this form, it has a 2 second induction and a 20 second cooldown.
      • The Black Arrow:
        • 5 Ranks
        • This trait grants an Incoming Healing debuff to Bard's Arrow. Potency and duration doubled against targets below 50% health.
        • 3-15% (6-30%) Incoming Healing reduction
        • 10 second (20 second) duration
      • Distracting Shot:
        • This trait grants the skill: Distracting Shot.
        • Distracting Shot no longer has an induction. As your core single-target daze skill, the induction here can feel like a big drawback for a Hunter in practice.
      • Determination:
        • 5 Ranks
        • +10% Chance for Melee Skills to generate an additional Focus for each enemy hit.
        • +15% per additional rank
      • Strength of the Earth:
        • Strength of the Earth has returned to being a channeled skill, with one key difference:
        • It now negates 50% of incoming damage while active.
        • It also restores Morale, Power, and Focus each half second while channeling.
      • Complex Mechanisms:
        • This trait has been removed.
      • Advanced Placement:
        • This trait has been removed.
      • Blasting Arrow:
        • 4 Ranks
        • Rank 1 grants a new skill: Blasting Arrow
        • Fire an arrow above you which explodes in a shower of sparks, temporarily stunning enemies within 15m for 3 seconds.
        • 90 second Cooldown
        • Cost: 3 Focus
        • Subsequent ranks each add 1s to the stun’s duration.
      • Survival Gear:
        • This trait has dropped from 6 ranks to 4 (with a maximum bonus of 5%) but is now located a little farther into the tree.
      • Rain of Thorns:
        • 5 Ranks
        • This trait grants the skill Rain of Thorns.
        • Rain of Thorns’ cooldown has been increased from 1m to 2m.
        • Rain of Thorns’ baseline root duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds.
        • Subsequent ranks each add +10 seconds to Rain of Thorns’ root duration.
      • Armour Rend:
        • This trait has been removed.
      • Steel Mechanisms:
        • 3 Ranks
        • Each rank grants +1 second grace period to some of your CC abilities (Traps, Rain of Thorns, and Blasting Arrow).
        • This trait no longer removes Focus loss from movement.
      • Improved Distracting Shot:
        • 4 Ranks
        • Each rank grants +5 second daze duration and -15 second cooldown for Distracting Shot.
      • Bountiful Purge:
        • Purge Poison now affects your fellowship.
      • Piercing Arrow:
        • Piercing Trap has been converted into a single-target ranged skill. Similar to the trap, this skill reduces your target’s movement speed and applies an effect to the Hunter, causing all of your ranged skills to restore morale for 15 seconds.
        • Cost: 3 Focus
        • Cooldown: 60 seconds.
      • The One Trap:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
        • Hunter of Legend:
          • Passively reduces the induction of Combat Focus by 1.5 seconds and its cooldown by 10 seconds.
          • This trait grants an active skill: Horn of Oromë.
            • Instantly gain 9 Focus and gain 1 Focus every second for 15 seconds.​
            • Increases the range of your ranged skills by 10m for 15 seconds.​
            • Restores a large amount of Morale and Power to everyone in your fellowship within 60m.​
            • All affected fellows are cleansed of up to 2 fear effects and become immune to debilitating fears for 10 seconds.
            • ​2 minute Cooldown.
      • Emergency Preparations:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
      • Hunter of Evil:
        • Oromë’s Arrow becomes an area of effect targeted skill, removing one corruption from up to 10 enemies in a small area around your target.
        • +2% Shadow Mitigation
  • Traceries:
    • Beneath Notice Cooldown > Intent Concentration Cooldown: This tracery now reduces Intent Concentration's cooldown up to 22 seconds.
    • Cry of the Hunter Bubble: The tracery now increases bubble potency by 50% and re-adds the Daze back to Cry of the Hunter.
    • Distracting Shot Cooldown: The maximum potency of this tracery has been reduced to a 10 second reduction.
    • Explosive Arrow Damage > Kingsfoil Healing: This tracery now increases the potency of the heal from Kingsfoil Knowledge up to 38.5%.
    • Focus Bow Critical Multiplier > Focus Spender Damage: This tracery now increases the damage of Focus Spender skills up to 11%.
    • Heart Seeker Damage: The maximum potency of this tracery has been reduced to 38.5%
    • Induction Bow Critical Multiplier > Ranged Skills Critical Multiplier: This tracery now increases the critical damage multiplier of all ranged skills up to 11%.
    • Induction Bow Damage > Focus Builder Damage: This tracery now increases the damage of Focus Builder skills up to 11%.
    • Lingering Wound Damage > Bleed Damage: This tracery now increases the damage of all Hunter bleeds up to 16.5%.
    • Merciful Shot Cooldown & Critical Multiplier > Merciful Shot & Huntsman's Shot Cooldown: This tracery now reduces the cooldown of Merciful and Huntsman's Shot up to 5 seconds.
    • Needful Haste Duration > Fleetness Duration: This tracery now increases the duration of Fleetness up to 4.4 seconds.
    • Precision Stance Critical Magnitude > Melee Skills Damage: This tracery now increases the damage of all melee skills up to 22%.
    • Precision Quick Shot Critical Chance and Magnitude > Melee Blindside: This tracery now causes Blindside to become a melee skill which generates Focus and deals more damage, as well as increases the chance of your melee skills to generate an additional point of Focus up to 4.4%.
    • Press Onward Cooldown & Heal: The maximum potency of this tracery has been reduced to a 15 second reduction.
    • Ranged Attack Evade and Block Chance > Suppressing Stings Potency: This tracery now increases the potency of your Suppressing Stings (Weakness) debuff up to 2.8%)
    • Strength of the Earth Morale Regen: The maximum potency of this tracery has been reduced to 22%.
    • Strength Stance Damage > Swift Mercy Chance: This tracery now increases the chances of triggering the Swift Mercy effect up to 6.6%.
    • Trap Damage > Blasting Arrow Daze Duration: This tracery now increases the duration of your Blasting Arrow Daze up to 3.3 seconds.

Burglar​:

  • Burglar class trait saved configurations have been reset due to changes to the trait trees.​
  • Burglar damage has been increased across the board. Note that some skills have received greater increases than others.
  • General Skills:
    • Addle:
      • Addle no longer becomes ‘Improved Addle’ and thus no longer applies a Tactical Damage debuff to targets.
    • Subtle Stab:
      • Subtle Stab now has an inherent +10% chance to critically hit.
      • Cooldown reduced to 1.0 second.
    • Cunning Attack:
      • Cunning Attack bleeds no longer stack with one another. Only the most potent bleed is now active on your target. Devastating Hits now apply the same bleed as a regular critical hit.
    • Exposed Throat:
      • Exposed Throat is now a baseline skill earned at level 16. This skill no longer has a chance to start a Fellowship Maneouvre.
    • Flashing Blades:
      • Flashing Blades is now a baseline skill earned at level 30.
    • Hide in Plain Sight:
      • In content where Hiding in Plain Sight was previously disabled, it should now be enabled with a reduced cooldown and instead of its current effects, it applies 5 seconds of combat stealth. This change means Hiding in Plain Sight does not allow you to break out of combat with any monsters you have currently engaged.
      • Hide in Plain Sight's duration in PvMP has been reduced by 6 seconds.
    • Purge Corruption:
      • Purge Corruption is no longer a part of the critical response chain.
      • Purge Corruption now has a 15 second cooldown which is reduced to 5 seconds while the critical response chain is active (reflected in the Sharp Eye buff).
      • If Purge Corruption successfully dispels a corruption, it now gives back a critical response to you.
    • Cunning Attack:
      • Only the most potent Cunning Attack bleed will apply to your target at any point in time (per character). Additionally, devastating skill hits will now apply the same bleed as critical hits.
    • Provoke:
      • Provoke no longer provides “Roll With It” damage negation by default. Damage reduction from Provoke is now able to be Traited in the Mischief-maker trait tree.
      • Cooldown reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds.
    • Ready and Able:
      • This skill has been removed.
    • Riddle:
      • Riddle's base Daze duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 15 seconds.
    • Touch and Go:
      • Touch and Go's base cooldown has been reduced from 5m to 2m.
    • Sneak:
      • Outside of PvMP: Sneak cooldown has been reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
    • Throw Knife:
      • Throw Knife now reduces your target's movement speed by 15%. From stealth, this debuff is increased to 50%.
    • All critical chain skill cooldowns have been reduced from 5 seconds to 3.5 seconds.
    • A Note on Tricks: Tricks are now mutually exclusive, meaning they will no longer stack with one another, even between multiple Burglars.
  • Trait Specializations:
    • The Gambler:
      • For the Gambler, the following changes aim to update your skill flow to be a little less reliant on stealth and feel a little more distinct from The Quiet Knife, with a focus on gamble effects and bleeds. Gambles should feel a little more dynamic, so they are not just maintenance buffs - interacting with more of your skills than they currently do. Importantly, blue and green gambles are now buffs applied to the Burglar rather than debuffs applied to your target.
      • Surprise Strike no longer becomes Gambler’s Surprise Strike. Given the chance to overwrite an existing gamble with a lower tier, the random nature of the gamble application chance, and the fact that other gambles are readily applied directly, this effect only ever served to complicate the Gambler’s skill set and make this skill worse than default Surprise Strike to use overall.
      • Hedge Your Bet:
        • Hedge Your Bet no longer applies an effect to your target. Instead, it grants the Burglar a heal over time (every 2 seconds for 10 seconds) depending on the roll. Hedge Your Bet now costs slightly more Power.
      • Gambler’s Advantage:
        • This skill-granting trait has swapped places with ‘Bob and Weave’ making it a Gambler-exclusive skill.
      • Blind Bet:
        • Blind Bet’s debuffing gamble is now a beneficial 'Scrapper's Gamble’ and its effects apply to the Burglar, not the target (values ranging from +1% Outgoing Damage and -1% Incoming Damage to +10% Outgoing Damage and -10% Incoming Damage)
      • Even the Odds:
        • Even the Odds is now an active skill:
        • Mastery > Wide Swings: +3% Area of Effect Damage; Surprise Strike, Cunning Attack, and Subtle Stab become Area of Effect skills.​
        • Evade Rating > Bleeding Wounds: +5% Damage over Time Damage; +3 DoT Pulses.​
        • Critical Rating > Bad Luck Protection: +50% Gamble Tier Up Chance; +2.5% Mitigations​
        • Attack Duration > Focused Attack: -+3% Single Target Damage; 10s Cash Out Cooldown
      • Double Down:
        • The Double Down trait has swapped positions with Overwhelming Odds, making it a Gambler-exclusive trait.
        • Double Down is now an active skill:
          • Tiers up an active damaging gamble on your target and rolls a random damaging gamble on surrounding enemies.​
          • 40 second cooldown​
        • Note: Double Down is an attack, and as such, if it crits, the area of effect red gamble application should benefit from the ‘false t6’ from Loaded Dice.​
      • Dealings Done:
        • Stealthed Surprise Strike will roll a random (Green, Blue, or Red) tier 6 gamble.
      • Cash Out:
        • Cash Out has been cleaned up, and should now function more closely to how it was originally designed. It will deal more damage depending on your (the Burglar) current blue and green gamble tiers, as well as the tier of your target's red gamble. It will also heal you for more and stun your target for longer depending on the tier of your current green or blue gambles respectively.
      • Loaded Dice:
        • Loaded Dice no longer impacts Even the Odds, Blind Bet, Cash Out, or All In. Instead:
        • Gamble application skills which crit now give a ‘false’ 6 gamble roll for 6 seconds. Your true gamble roll is revealed after that false 6 roll expires.
      • Leaf Walker:
        • This trait has been removed.
      • Bob and Weave:
        • Bob and Weave has moved from a Gambler-exclusive to a buyable trait in the Gambler trait tree.
        • Bob and Weave is no longer a random proc effect. Instead, it is now an active skill which grants Combat Stealth and a Heal over Time.
      • Overwhelming Odds:
        • This trait is now buyable in the trait tree in place of Double Down. Overwhelming Odds no longer affects Fellowship Manoeuvre potency.
        • 3 Ranks.
        • +5-20% Chance to receive a critical response after successfully using a critical chain skill.​
      • Aggravated Bleeds (Trait):
        • This trait no longer requires points in any prerequisite traits.
      • Bleeding Jugular (Exposed Throat):
        • This trait adds the ‘Bleeding Jugular’ bleed to Exposed Throat.
      • Against the Odds:
        • 5 Ranks
        • For each rank:​
        • +2% Area of Effect Damage​
      • High Roller:
        • The effects of High Roller would no longer increase gamble-applying skill damage. Instead, it would:
        • Increase the duration of your high rolling gambles.
          • 4: +1 pulse​
          • 5: +2 pulses​
          • 6: +3 pulses​
      • A Sure Thing:
        • A Sure Thing no longer increases harmful gamble damage. Instead:
        • Surprise Strike tiers down an active Gambler’s Advantage bleed on your target to deal bonus damage.
        • Additional ranks increase the potency of this bonus damage.
      • On a Roll
        • 5 Ranks
        • After every kill, the active cooldown of Double Down is reduced.
        • +1s cooldown reduction per additional rank.
      • All In:
        • All In now also reduces your gamble skill cooldowns to 0.5 seconds for its duration.
      • Sharp Eye:
        • Sharp Eye now also grants +2.5% Critical Chance while your crit chain is active.
    • The Quiet Knife:
      • For the Quiet Knife, the following changes aim to remove your reliance on positional to deal adequate damage, and make it a little easier to get your critical skill chain started through skill combos while removing gambles and making your core gameplay more distinct from the Gambler’s.
      • The Quiet Knife (Effect) has been removed.
      • Feint Attack:
        • Feint Attack is no longer a part of the crit chain.
      • Knives Out:
        • Knives Out cooldown has been reduced by 30s (to account for the ‘Improved Knives Out’ trait being removed).
        • Knives Out has swapped positions with Coup de Grace, making Knives Out the capstone trait for the Quiet Knife tree.
      • Coup de Grace:
        • Coup de Grace is now granted immediately upon specializing in the Quiet Knife.
        • Coup de Grace cooldown has been increased to 45 seconds
        • Coup de Grace now grants a 6s buff: skills act as though you are in stealth, and critical response chain skills become freely available with reduced cooldowns.
        • Coup de Grace will consume a Well-placed bleed on a target to deal bonus damage.
      • Perforate:
        • In place of the ‘Advanced Knives Out’ trait, you gain the skill ‘Perforate.’
        • Crit Chain skill (step one, like Double-edged Strike)
        • Single target skill, making 3 rapid attacks
      • Bloodletter:
        • Each time you land a critical hit with Perforate you gain a tier of “Bloodletter” (up to 3)
        • Bloodletter buffs give +1% Critical Chance and +2.5% Melee Damage and grants bonus damage to Exposed Throat and Flashing Blades. This effect lasts for 15 seconds.
        • Exposed Throat and Flashing Blades will consume all bloodletter effects to deal bonus damage.
      • Footpad:
        • Combat Stealth speed buff has been doubled from 2-10% to 4-20%.
      • Hidden Dagger:
        • This trait has moved from the third row to the second row of the tree.
      • Stun Dust:
        • This skill-granting trait has moved to the third row of the Mischief-maker tree.
      • Back Stab:
        • Back Stab now gives +Surprise Strike Damage (2-10%) rather than +Positional Damage.
      • Flashing Blades:
        • With Flashing Blades being a baseline skill, this trait improves the Damage of Flashing Blades.
      • Vital Points:
        • Vital Points no longer reduces your target’s critical defense and no longer requires points in Dance of Blades. Instead:
        • Second step Critical Response Chain skills gain a 5-15% chance to unlock the skill ‘Well-placed Strike’ for 6 seconds.
        • Deals significant damage to a single target and leaves your target bleeding. This bleed will be consumed by Coup de Grace.
      • Well-placed Strike:
        • Deals significant damage to a single target and leaves your target bleeding. This bleed will be consumed by Coup de Grace.
      • Trip:
        • Trip would move to the Mischief-maker tree.
      • Sneak Attack:
        • Stealth Damage bonus reduced to 10%.
        • Sneak Attack now causes Stealthed Surprise Strike to reduce the cooldown of Coup de Grace and for Stealthed Cunning Attack to reduce the cooldown of Knives Out.
    • The Mischief-maker:
      • For the Mischief-maker, the following changes aim to update your overall kit to better match the effects and potency of yellow-line Lore-masters and the other support specializations. These changes should also clean up some awkward and frustrating skill interactions (such as those with skills that currently apply Minor and Major Rent armour).
      • When specialized in the Mischief-maker, Subtle Stab gains 2 second cooldown (returning it to a 2.5 second cooldown) and retains its cooldown reduction for Startling Twist, Mischievous Glee, and Clever Retort.
      • Trick: Enrage
        • Mischievous Glee and Trick: Enrage have swapped places, making Enrage a Mischief-only skill while allowing any Burglar to access Mischievous Glee (with sufficient points in the Mischief-maker tree).
        • Enrage's effect potency increased to +5% Incoming Damage.
        • From stealth, Enrage is now an area of effect skill.
      • Trick: Disable:
        • Disable’s effect now has a base potency of x0.9 Outgoing Damage (x0.85 Tactical Damage).
        • From stealth, Disable is now an area of effect skill.
      • Reveal Weakness:
        • Reveal Weakness is now an active skill, exclusive to the Mischief-maker. It is a standard melee attack requiring a critical response (step one, like Double-edged Strike) to apply a temporary debuff increasing your target’s incoming damage for 15 seconds.
        • Base potency of Reveal Weakness has been reduced by 1%.
      • A Small Snag/Quite a Snag:
        • This skill no longer applies a root. It also no longer applies ‘The Mischief-maker’ buff to the burglar.
        • A Small Snag will tier up the Reveal Weakness debuff on your current target, making it more potent and causing it to last for 20 seconds.
      • Disabling Attack:
        • This trait has been removed, and its effect has been rolled into the baseline Disable effect.
      • Mischievous Diversion:
        • Diversion becomes “Mischievous Diversion” which is usable in combat.
        • Grants Combat Stealth:
        • 40 second Cooldown
      • Joke with Legs:
        • This trait now also adds +15 seconds to Riddle’s Daze duration.
      • Counter Defence:
        • A Trick for all Tastes has been replaced here by Counter Defence.
        • Counter Defence is no longer be a trick, and now applies Minor Rent Armour (-10% Physical Mitigation, -8% Tactical Mitigation) in an area of effect around your target.
        • Duration: 35 seconds
        • Cooldown: 30 seconds
      • Little Annoyances:
        • This trait has been removed and replaced with:
        • Trickster
        • Cooldown increased from 60 seconds to 120 seconds.
        • For 10 seconds all skills act as though you are Stealthed and you gain:
          • Aura: Trick Sanctuary, granting -50% Attack Duration, -15% Incoming Damage, and +10% Movement Speed in to allies within 12m of you.
      • Confound the Fools:
        • The trait has been removed.
      • Unseen Scheme (New Skill):
        • In a puff of smoke and whirl of blades, you rend the armour of enemies around you.
        • Deals significant damage and applies Major Rent Armour (15 seconds/15 seconds)
        • 60 second Cooldown
        • Grants Combat Stealth
      • Practical Joke:
        • This trait has been removed.
      • Opportunist:
        • This trait increases Subtle Stab’s base damage (+5-25%).
        • This increases Subtle Stab's inherent damage, and this trait no longer causes the skill to deal bonus damage to targets with active tricks on them.
      • Impossible Target:
        • 3 Ranks
        • Combat Stealth reduces Incoming Damage by 5%-15%.
      • Mischievous Glee:
        • Mischievous Glee no longer requires an active trick on your target, nor does it remove an active trick from your target.
      • Counter Defence:
        • Counter Defence is now a Mischief-only trait and is no longer buyable in the tree.
      • Perplexing Proposition:
        • This trait has been removed.
      • Vital Cut:
        • 5 Ranks
        • Exposed Throat applies an Incoming Healing debuff (5-25%) for 12 seconds.
      • Stun Dust:
        • Stun Dust is now a yellow-line trait.
      • Roll With It:
        • 5 Ranks
        • This trait causes Provoke to gain the effect “Roll With It” to negate 10% damage of the next incoming attack.
        • Ranks 2-5 increase the negation potency by 5% per tier (30% max).
      • Self Adulation:
        • This trait now gives a bonus to all Outgoing Healing, rather than being limited to Clever Retort and Glee.
      • A Trick for All Tastes (Mischievous Delight):
        • Mischievous Glee becomes an area of effect heal for your fellowship with reduced potency.
      • Burglar’s Antidote:
        • When traited, Burglar’s antidote only affect the player’s fellowship, not the entire raid.
      • Trip:
        • Trip is now found in the yellow tree rather than the red tree.
      • Appraising Eye (Mischief-only):
        • A Small Snag will spread the Reveal Weakness debuff in a small area around your target if used on an enemy already suffering from the Reveal Weakness or Small Snag debuffs.
      • Dust in the Eyes:
        • This skill is no longer a trick and no longer applies a debuff to enemies. Instead, it applies a 15 second daze.
        • Dust in the Eyes still leaves targets slowed.
        • 90 second cooldown
      • Clever Retort:
        • Clever Retort no longer requires or removes an active trick from your target. No longer being dependent upon tricks, Clever Retort instead grants four temporary skills for 15 seconds with a shared cooldown.
          • Guile: Deals damage over time to your target.​
          • Strength: Deals potent damage to your target.​
          • Conviction: Restore Morale to yourself or an ally.​
          • Spirit: Restore Power to yourself or an ally.​
        • - When used, these skills form a two- or three-length Personal Manoeuvre, which will apply additional effects when executed if you have created a 2-length Pair or 3-length Straight.​
        • 75 second cooldown
  • Traceries:
    • Addle Tactical Damage Debuff > Trick Debuff Potency: This tracery now adds up to 3.3% potency to the debuffs applied by Trick: Disable and Trick: Enrage.
    • Backstab Damage > Bloodletter Potency: This tracery now increases the potency of Bloodletter's buffs up to 38.5%.
    • Chain Skills Critical Multiplier > Trickster Cooldown: This tracery now reduces the cooldown of Trickster up to 33 seconds.
    • Coup de Grace Damage: The maximum potency of this tracery has been reduced to 38.5%.
    • Coup de Grace Duration & Crit Chance > Combat Stealth Duration: This tracery has been renamed to more accurately reflect the fact that it impacts Combat Stealth duration from any sources, not just that from Coup de Grace. Additionally, it no longer increases the critical chance of Coup de Grace.
    • Cunning Attack Bleed Damage: The maximum potency of this tracery has been reduced to 33%.
    • Dust in the Eyes Miss Chance > Dust in the Eyes Slow Duration: This tracery now increases the duration of the Dust in the Eyes slow up to 11 seconds.
    • Feint Attack Damage: The maximum potency of this tracery has been reduced to 38.5%.
    • Hedge Your Bet Damage > Even the Odds Cooldown: This tracery now reduces the cooldown of Even the Odds up to 4.4 seconds.
    • Lucky & Gambler's Strike Damage > Lucky Strike Damage & Critical Chance: This tracery now increases the damage of Lucky Strike up to 38.5% and critical chance up to 11%.
    • Lucky Strike Critical Chance > Gamble Pulses: This tracery now increases the number of times each gamble effect will pulse up to 4.
    • Purge Corruption Damage > Damage from Stealth: This tracery now increases damage dealt from stealth up to 11%.
    • Reveal Weakness Incoming Damage and Range > Reveal Weakness Incoming Damage: This tracery no longer increases the maximum range of Reveal Weakness, and the maximum potency of this tracery has been reduced to 2.2%.
    • Riddle Range > Clever Retort Cooldown: This tracery now reduces the cooldown of Clever Retort up to 16.5 seconds.
    • Surprise Strike Critical Chance and Backstab Bonus > Crit Chain Skill Cooldowns: This tracery now reduces the cooldowns of all critical chain skill up to 1.1 seconds.
    • Surprise Strike Damage > Surprise Strike Damage & Critical Chance: this tracery now increases the damage of Surprise Strike up to 27.5% and its critical chance up to 5.5%.
    • Trick and Trick Removal Damage > Return Strike Chance: This tracery now increases the chance that Return Strike will be triggered up to 27.5%.

Other Classes and Skills:

  • Champion
    • Corrected Champion Fervour trait tooltip to properly indicate that the bonus to skill damage is 4% per tier, not 5%. This is a tooltip change, as this bonus has been 4% for some time.
  • Guardian
    • Bleed Them Dry now correctly increases all Bleed Damage by 10%.
    • The Keen Blade trait Protection by the Sword now provides fellowship and raid members within 10m of the Guardian with a boost to damage every ten seconds. The Guardian's version of this benefit is now permanent. The aura has been removed. (We are aware the tooltip needs to be updated on the trait.)
    • The Keen Blade trait Prey on the Weak will now trigger on each skill played on a target with an active bleed applied by the Guardian.
    • All guardian bleeds applied by skills now have matching iconography.
    • A bug with Protection by the Sword and Protection by the Shield preventing the effects bestowed to the fellowships from consistently applying while in and out of combat has been rectified.
  • Lore-master
    • Fire & Frost Lore now reduces Tactical Damage by an additional 5%.
    • Sticky Tar cooldown reduced from 90 seconds to 80 seconds.
    • The Lore-master skill "Gust of Wind" in red line now correctly increments the deed "The Study of Wind-lore".
    • The Lore-master skill "Share the Power - Fellowship" now correctly increments the deed "Knowledge of the Past".
  • Mariner
    • Disarming Strike now reduces Tactical Damage by an additional 5%.
    • Caustic Brew cooldown reduced from 75 seconds to 60 seconds.
    • Pitch Pot cooldown reduced from 60 seconds to 45 seconds.
  • Rune-keeper
    • Tale of the Storm now correctly increases Critical Chance for all Lightning skills (rather than just Essence of Storm).
    • Tale of the Storm no longer incorrectly grants +Healing Crit per pips and Fellowship Narrative no longer incorrectly grants +Lightning skills critical chance and magnitude per pip.

Monster Play Reward Track Season 2:

  • The Monster Play reward track provides a player's account with a barter resource called Marta. Marta is used to purchase consumable and permanent items in the Ettenmoors for both Monster Player and Free People characters.
  • Each level awards either a package item containing Marta, a selection box with cosmetic items, or a cosmetic March! Appearance, a selection box for a new racial appearance, or a package item with a seasonal title and portrait for the Monster Player.
  • Cosmetic items and March! Appearance boxes are available at the 6th, 18th, 28th, and 38th reward tiers.
  • Cosmetic appearances are available at the 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, and 48th reward tiers.
  • The season title and seasonal portrait are available at the 49th and 50th reward tiers, respectively.
  • Each tier earned beyond the 50th rewards the account with an additional package item containing Marta.
  • To acquire rewards for a Free People character on the account, a player uses the Marta earned by completing the track to purchase the cosmetic rewards from the light, medium, and heavy armour vendors at Glân Vraig. Additional rewards are available for Free People characters at the special items trader, also located in Glân Vraig.
  • The Monster Play Reward Track will be available in the LOTRO Store. The Monster Play Reward Track Season 2 is not currently available in the LOTRO Store.

PvMP:

  • Siege:
    •  When creeps control a tower, they can summon ballista within the land block containing either Tírith Rhaw or Lugazag. The same is true for the Free Players. While the enemy controls either Tírith Rhaw of Lugazag, enemies may summon battering rams.​​
  • Quests and Tower Control:
    • While controlling a tower and owning the Grimwood Lumber Camp,  the controlling faction gains access to build a gate at the bottom of the tower. Completing the quest ten times constructs the gate, locks defenders into the keep, and locks the opposition out of the tower. Announcements are broadcast as the controller moves through the effort of constructing the gate, informing the opposition of how much progress has been made toward locking down the towers.​
  • :​​Hoarhallow and Grothum
    • To give players a reason to visit the two villages in the Ettenmoors, we are adding two new targets that provide benefits to the towers when they are alive.​
      • At Grothum, a goblin hero rose from the ranks and now patrols the village. While he is alive, if the creeps control TR, TA, or Lugazag, monster players and defenders receive a 5% damage bonus, and a 1% mitigation bonus at the controlled locations.​
      • At Hoarhallow, a hobbit hero rose from the ranks and patrols near the pipe weed field. While he is alive, if the Freeps control TR, TA, or Lugazag, players and defenders receive a 5% bonus to both their morale and power.​
      • There are no plans to make these targets quest objectives. Rather, they are objectives that should shift battle focus roughly every 15 minutes.​
    • The Forward Camps
      • The forward camps located outside of Lugazag and Tírith Rhaw, respectively, are now capture locations. The camp north of Tírith Rhaw begins under the control of Monster Players, and the camp south of Lugazag begins under the control of Players. Controlling the location grants access to The Underseaths. This new tunnel structure snakes under the Ettenmoors, connecting the forward camps to their respective towers via a direct route; the opposite forward camp via a winding color-coded route; the tower on the other side of the map via a winding color-coded route; and a battle arena in the depths called The Hoarfall.​
      • The Underseaths are not tied to the flipping respawn points on the landscape. Defeat in The Underseaths means you retreat to your main base. This should make using this new cut-through alone very dangerous.​
      • There are exits into the basements of the two towers accessible from the Underseaths.​
  • Relics in the Underseaths
    • This new feature places two relics within The Underseaths. The first is a visage of Gil-galad, and the second is a visage of Sauron. Each hides behind a gate within The Underseath tunnels. The relic nearest the forward camp access from Lugazag belongs to the Freeps and can only be captured by the creeps. The relic nearest the forward camp access from Tírith Rhaw belongs to the creeps and can only be captured by the Freeps.​
    • To access the relics, players or monster players must throw a lever on the opposite side of The Underseaths, near the egress point to the corresponding forward camp. This will open the door on the opposite side of the Underseaths and allow a player or monster player to interact with the opposition’s relic.​
  • War-leader's Clinging Fear DoT potency has been increased and duration reduced.
  • War-leader's skill 'Quitters Die' is now correctly treated as a Melee skill for the purposes of Clinging Fear.

Festivals and Events:

  • We have updated the language of the Hard Tack event create food quest to reflect that you need to finish the food in the ovens before delivery to their respective tables.
  • We have made changes to the Hard Tack of Thorin's Hall: Special Brew quest to ensure that the quest will complete.
  • All events associated with the Hard Tack event will now fail upon logout.
  • Spring Festival flower patches now only sparkle and appear while having the quest "A Fistful of Flowers" underway.
  • Furtherholm now has a dock-master that provides routes to Bree-town, Minas Tirith (Midsummer) and Umbar Baharbel.
  • Stuck spot in Furtherholm has been fixed.
  • An issue has been resolved that caused NPCs and quest items to sometimes not spawn in Furtherholm.
  • Correct ribbons should be awarded for the forester event.

Combat & Monsters:

  • Fixed Rune-keeper runestones ignoring damage mods from landscape difficulty system.
  • Goblin-gourds associated with the Harvestmath quest Gourds and Goblins in Wistmead now display floaty names.
  • Raid leaders can no longer move members between raid groups once the boss is engaged and the combat lock is active.

Quests, Deeds, and Adventure Areas:

  • The Rohan quest "Edoras: The Last Cast" quest guide has been corrected to show you must fish on the dock with Dúdrad.
  • In the Anniversary Event quest Year 1 Travels: Towering Monuments, the Stone of Erech in both Gondor and King's Gondor will now advance the quest.
  • The Tasks Ent in Derndingle has been given a proper name.
  • Tasks for the Ents of Fangorn Forest now reward players with Fangorn Leaves.
  • The Minas Morgul quests "The Deep Barrow" and "The Prison of Rauniel" have had their minimum and challenge quest level increased to player level 123 and 130 respectively, to match the instances they require for completion.
  • The Yondershire mail delivery quests Route: Tighfield to Nobottle and Route: Tighfield to Gamwich now have no prerequisites, so players can do the mail delivery qests in any order.
    • Changes have been made to the Yondershire mail delivery quests to address an issue where it could sometimes advance or complete the incorrect quest. The notable change is that Route: Nobottle to Tighfield and Route: Tighfield to Gamwich now have specific satchels to click on instead of the table itself, in order to begin the route.
    • Due to these changes, Yondershire mail delivery quests have been versioned and players that had them in progress will need to pick them up again.
  • The descriptions in the tooltips on The Second Stone and The Fourth Stone in the Foundations of Stone have been corrected.

Instances and Skirmishes:

  • Stoneheight
    • Dale Truitt and Búbhosh-grat now deal slightly less damage on Tier 2 difficulty.
  • Northcotton Farm
    • Legbarthil's Tier 2 egg morale has been reduced by 40%.
    • The Initial Damage from Thadur's Poisonous Vapours Corruption has been reduced.
  • The Lost Temple:
    • The cooldown for Ferndur's Virulent Plague has been reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.
    • Frûmolog's morale has been reduced by 50%.
  • Sâri-surma:
    • Several Caeryg Guardian Skills no longer Stun or Daze players.
    • Coldbear's Spirit form now correctly requires and consumes 90% of his power when using Roar of the Damned.
    • Drugoth's stolen Beorning skill no longer fears players, but its wound is more potent.
  • Ost Dunhoth:
    • Gortheron Wing:
      • Ivar's stolen powers have been adjusted slightly to smooth out the potency of each skill across each of their four tiers. In particular, Matumáth's stolen power is significantly weaker, and its difficulty across tiers is much more gradual.
      • Gortheron's Challenge Mode condition now clearly tiers up from 1-20 and has 5 visible tiers from 21-25 which allow you to see if you have any buffer to kill adds without failing the challenge.
      • Gortheron's Challenge Mode chest should now spawn correctly in all appropriate circumstances in which the challenge is completed.
      • Gortheron's morale has been reduced by 25%.
      • Some adds in Gortheron's encounter now have slightly reduced health.
    • Wound and Fear Wing:
      • Mammoth morale has been reduced by 25%.
      • Wound wing enemy (other than mammoth) morale has been reduced by 33%.
      • Silvertine Troll Damage has been reduced slightly.
    • Disease and Poison Wing:
      • Baleleaf and Dourbark morale has been reduced by 30%.
      • Birch-hound morale has been reduced by 25%.
      • Raging Stone-troll Damage has been reduced slightly.
      • Frothmar morale has been reduced by 30%.
      • Dunhoth Nemúl morale has been reduced by 33%.
  • Addressed an issue in The Wold quest Instance: Meet Harding that caused Harding to sometimes fall through his chair.
  • Ost Dunhoth:
    • Wound Wing
      • Blood-hand Blight now have -25% morale.
      • Blood-hand Renewers now have -25% morale.
      • Blood-hand Stalwarts now have -25% morale.
      • Dunhoth Stalkers now have -25% morale.
      • Dunhoth Wardens now have -25% morale.
      • Wound Wing challenge time limit is now 10 minutes (up from 7).
    • Disease and Poison Wing
      • Gredbyg Queens now have -33% morale.
        • Kergrim now have -33% morale.
      • Dunhoth Lake-lords now have -66% morale.
      • The Disease challenge now allows for up to 18 Bog-lurkers to be killed.
    • Fear Wing
      • The Tier 1 Balrog chest can now drop armour tokens at level 65 as intended.
      • Silvertine Trolls now have -33% morale.
      • Silvertine Morroval now have -33% morale.
  • Sari-surma
    • Drugoth's Beorning stolen skill now deals Common damage and will be mitigated as such.
    • Whirlwind initial damage has been reduced.
  • The Featured Instance rotation has been updated to include: Great Barrow - Thadúr, Sari Surma, Fornost Wraith of Earth, Blood of the Black Serpent, Webs of the Scuttledells, and Battle for Erebor.

Missions & Delvings:

  • To address an issue with Lalia spawning into Anniversary Mission: Lalia's Safe Passage at the incorrect level, she will not be present when players first enter the instance. A lantern has been placed on the ground to help you know where she will appear.
  • Banners in the Gundabad Zhélruka Allegiance mission "Chapter 2: The Mountain-home" are now easier to see and hang, and persist through the end of the mission.

Items and Rewards:

  • Hooded Cloak of the Wise Wanderer and the Hooded Cloak of Roäc now correctly show the hood's texture on female avatars for Race of Man, River Hobbits, and Beornings.
  • The Hound Housing Property Guard is now correctly categorized as a beast.
  • Fixed several new backpack cosmetics that did not accept dye colors correctly: Sophisticated Birder's Pack, Mushroom Hunter's Pack, and the Pack of Whimsy.
  • The pack of the able angler can now accept dye.
  • Light, Medium, and Heavy barter vendors at Glân Vraig have a new set of cosmetic armour available. These are the old Eldacar, Causeway, and Armoury sets in cosmetic form.
  • Adventurer's quartermasters now sell Tomes of Defence for Embers.
  • Tomes of Defence purchased from sources outside of the store will now appropriately bind to account.

Housing and Decorations:

  • Homesteading Coins have replaced Premium Housing Writs as the currency used to purchase premium houses and refunded when a premium house is sold.
  • Any Premium Housing Writs in inventory will automatically turn into 5 Homesteading Coins per writ. Any Premium Housing Writs in bank, shared storage, or mail will automatically turn into 5 Homesteading Coins per writ as soon as the writs enter inventory.
  • By popular request, Lalia's Market now has new Rug housing decoration bundles sorted by color/style instead of by size.
  • New "Farm to Table" market goods housing decoration bundles can now be found in Lalia's Market.

Ettenmoors

  • In order to restore a measure of parity to the March! for Monster Players and Mount skills for traditional Players, we have increased the induction duration on the March skill by .75 seconds.
  • All Ettenmoors buffs from the new vendors at outposts should be removed when leaving the Ettenmoors.
  • The Warleader skills Aura of Command and Aura of Protection now extend to 8m.
  • Akúlhun's Brand and Lainedhal's Insignia should now remove all negative effects upon use, provide 20s of silence and disarm immunity, and remove all negative effects for the next 5s seconds.
  • Capturing Lugazag and Tírith Rhaw now provide players with a key when the tower flips.
    • This key unlocks the new chests appearing at the towers after holding the locations for an hour.
    • You can carry only one of these keys at a time.
    • Using the chest still applies a "recently looted" debuff on you to limit how often you can loot the chests.
  • Battlefield promotion effects for players in the Ettenmoors were altered to apply a larger impact earlier on in the advancement path to mirror, more closely, the change made to the monster players.
  • We have removed the ability for the Warleader skill "Field Promotion" to be used on session players. This means the skill can no longer be used on troll session players.
  • We have changed how access to Troll and Ranger sessions in the Ettenmoors works. In order to qualify for a troll or ranger session, your side of the fight must be have 25 fewer players than the enemy to obtain a troll or ranger session.
  • Reduced the timeframe for Grodris returning to 60 minutes.
  • Reduced the chances that Grodris will become locked in the middle of her encounter.
  • Reduced the timer on the outpost flipping to neutral from 3 hours to 1 hour to push for players to lose and need to retake them more often.
  • Akulhun's Brand of the Tyrant and Lainedhal's Insignia should no longer display their protections on the UI display.
  • After reviewing the impact of pinning the central Ettenmoors to a single server, we have observed performance that is not meeting our expectations. We have therefore shifted the server pinning in the Ettenmoors back to the original (2024) configuration.
    We will continue to monitor the performance and intend to make other back-end adjustments over time to continue our efforts to improve performance in this highly trafficked zone.
  • Glory Reward Changes
    • Glory rewards are no longer relative to ratings.
      • The means by which ratings were tracked ceased to be very effective or relevant some time ago, mostly making the swings in this value relatively arbitrary and frustrating, so for now, we're decoupling it from glory rewards so those swings are not very impactful on play.
    • Diminishing returns on repeatedly killing the same player now persist for 5 minutes. Note that this is tracked per attacker/defender pairing.
      • We determined that the diminishing return decay timer was so short that, for all intents, it had no effect; it has been extended to allow it to serve its function properly (preventing kill farming).
    • Glory rewards begin to diminish slowly once group size increases past 12, and drop sharply at 25+ group sizes.
      • The goal of this change is to try to discourage the "death ball" meta, which tends to dominate the Ettenmoors, and encourage players to break up into more manageable groups fighting in separate areas of the map over multiple objectives. Unfortunately, as we are all well aware, the "death ball" meta is very hard on server performance, and we have found that as we improve server performance technically, the "death balls" just get bigger in response until performance degrades to a threshold of discomfort.

Landscape:

  • In Ered Mithrin Dori and Company no longer clip into their goats.
  • Southern Mirkwood Roving Threats will now spawn at a location in Taur Morvith, slightly southwest of Mithechad.
  • The VIP usage requirement for swift travel routes between Mossward and the other starter locations (Thorin's Gate, Celondim, Michel Delving) and Bree-town has been removed.
  • Stuck spot in Ub Nishir has been fixed
  • Floating resource nodes in Fields of Duragar have been fixed
  • Minor physics issues in Jax Phanal have been fixed
  • Floating decor in the Prancing Pony has been fixed
  • Orc trapped in a rock in Fanuidhol is now free to conduct shenanigans again
  • Mariner and Brawler Trainers have been added to Thrór's Coomb in Enedwaith.
  • Mirkwood Taur Morvith rare boss spawns have been fixed.

Miscellaneous:

  • Race of Man, Elf, and River Hobbit hair styles no longer have edge brightening graphics artifacts in certain lighting situations.
  • FRENCH/GERMAN The Translation for the Rune-keeper Attunement item note has been updated.

Known Issues:

  • Some text associated with the new Ringwraiths on Angmar and Mordor is not yet localized. We will correct this issue in a future update.
  • The Birding Deed "The Rarest of Birds in Gondor and Mordor" is not properly awarding its title. Players that complete it will be awarded the title in U45.1.