Update 48.1 Release Notes

Here are the Release Notes for Update 48.1, released on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

Of Special Note:

Rivendell Housing opens on Thursday, April 30th!

Update 48 sees the launch of our newest premium neighbourhood, the Rivendell Steadings. Nestled high in the mountains just to the west of the Vale of Imladris, players now have the opportunity to call Rivendell home! Rivendell Housing will open on the 64-bit game worlds on Thursday, April 30th, starting at Noon Eastern (-4 GMT). Additional housing neighborhoods will open automatically once enough homes in existing neighborhoods are purchased. Learn more in our guide on LOTRO.com.

There are multiple ways to get to the Rivendell Steadings. The main entrance of the neighborhood is a quick walk south-west from the Rivendell stables, right before the tree bridge crossing. You can also access the neighbourhood from Bree-town via the Broker’s Office as well as from the new Rivendell Steadings Broker’s Board in Lalia’s Market. 

News and Notes:

Missions:

  • Enemies will now spawn each time a boat is burned in the mission "Deny Their Escape."
  • Enemies will no longer glide across the landscape when pathing in the mission "A Harsh Truth."
  • One of the builders in the mission "Workers Released" was floating. They have been grounded.
  • The appearance of the Tarkrîp Scrappers in the Anniversary Mission: Thornley's Revenge has been corrected.

Quests:

  • The sub quests to the "From Ashes Come Virtue" quest now state that you must "Complete Quest: NAME" for clarity.
  • The Sutcrofts quest "Thatching a Plan" now correctly requires you to collect 7 reeds, instead of 8.
  • The "VIP Rewards" quest is once again available to all subscribers starting at level 5.

Reputation:

  • The bestowal text for the quest "Ally of Hamât Renewed" has been re-written to no longer sound like it is Mizâdi giving the quest.
  • Mûr Ghala Quartermasters now allow filtering barter profiles by reputation level.

Items:

  • The Scorpion Trophy Housing Items have been renamed to better match their poses.

Landscape:

  • Adjusted pathing issues across the Hatokali Fells.
  • Adjusted rock placement in Elderslade to fix issues in The Lord of Gundabad story instance.
  • Adjusted rock placement in Rohan to allow completion of "Searching for Erkenbrand" quest line.
  • Adjusted Eastfold neighborhood to bring back trees around the yards and cleaned up errant trees that suddenly sprouted up in the middle of yards.

Art & Avatars:

  • Race of Man run animations were reverted to pre-U48 animation style.