Bullroarer Update 21.3 - Beta #1 sneak peek - Preview and Release Notes

[Tybur]

Welcome to our first open preview of Update 21.3. These notes are for Bullroarer, released on Friday October 227th. Both the notes and the update are a work in progress, so you should expect things will change over time. We look forward to hearing your feedback and receiving your bug reports.

The Bullroarer database has been wiped! Please feel free to copy your current live character to Bullroarer using the LIVE transfer wizard.

Focus for this Beta:
Please Join us this weekend for an early sneak peek at the new Raid: The Abyss of Mordath. Note that this is an early preview, and all of the bosses have not yet been placed in the space. We would love your feedback on the space, the mobs and mob density between bosses, and the difficulty of the first boss fight. Since the second boss has not yet been placed in the space, you will not be able to proceed beyond reaching the entrance to that space.

• To enter the raid, you will need to Discover the Abyss of Mordath. Find the door in the Chamber of the Watchers in the lower levels of Barad-dur (Western edge of the Barad-dur map on the lower corridor branching).
• This is a level 115 raid (and does not scale) with 2 difficulty tiers.
• For testing purposes, the quests that allow you to bypass a boss that you have already defeated have been set to daily rather than weekly reset. Note that this is a new mechanic to allow for a new, less prohibitive, style of raid locks. The raid group will be able to skip past the the bosses defeated by the first member of the party to cross the line at the beginning of the instance.

Known Issues:

• The rope in the Abyss of Mordath to access the first boss fight does not allow use in combat but the nearby caged creatures will force you to remain in combat. To workaround, please jump down and wait through the 30 second broken leg before activating the fight.
• The second boss in The Abyss of Mordath has not yet been placed, so you cannot proceed beyond that point in the raid.
• Various Abyss of Mordath quests and deeds have TBD or DNT text.

New in this build:

• The npc "Dust" in the Eyes & Guard tavern stairwell offers a quest that rewards Ash of Gorgoroth.
• Eyes & Guard tavern: Vastin's Mordor Relics T1 box now has Rare and Incomparable Vanguard Runes of Force, Healing, and Power.
• North Ithilien Essences are now bound to account by default.
• Missing farming ingredients were added to some Crafting Suppliers.
• Steed of the Moon Moth naming inconsistencies are cleaned up.
• The mount collections that previously granted titles have been replaced with deeds. To advance one of the mount collection deeds, you must use that mount skill (from the mount collections panel or from skill panel, mounts tab.) New mount collection deeds/titles have also been added for the 2015 & 2016 Festival steeds, Goat mounts, and Gondor mounts!
• Loremaster Class Items "Book of Beasts", class items at level 20, level 30, and level 40, now give minor bonuses to pet stats.
• Tier 10 Captain Armaments may now be bartered for exchange receipts.
• Crafting - Universal Ingredient Packs may now be used on select Westemnet Guild Recipes.
• Crafting - Certain Jeweller recipes which did not allow you to inscribe critical outputs now allow it.
• Crafting - Westemnet and Doomfold Captain Armaments now provide significantly more armour to heralds.
• Crafting - The Anorien Expertise Token may now be consumed in a recipe also available from skirmish barterers.
• The stable travel route to the First Hall should now drop you off in the correct spot in front of the stable master.
• The first door in The Court of Seregost can now be opened in combat (but remains locked during the boss fight) to prevent players from getting stuck inside.
• The quest "Lost Lore of Gorgoroth: Agarnaith" now rewards the correct reputation.
• Human female mood animations have been updated.
• Players who have logged out in the Vales of Anduin may be sent to Archet upon logging in. This is because the absolute location of the Beorning starting area has been moved. Other than this possible teleport, you should notice no difference in the Vales of Anduin.
• Equipment - Level 105 Featured Instance Armour sets will once again be item level 222.
• Crafting - Fragments of Gorgoroth Dungeons will have the proper plural name when stacked.
• Instance: A Trap for the Creature should no longer break when using the flat stone too soon.
• The Court of Seregost: Black Númenórean-slayer deed now indicates how many need to be defeated.
• The Weeping Reeds in Agarnaith for the quest Flora Investigation are now visible above ground.
• Coldan and Hithgol in Dor Amarth have been cosmetically adjusted to better suit their role and surroundings.
• Camp site fires in Taur Druadan, Lossarnach, and the Wastes now allow Burglars to Contact Pedlar.
• The Lossarnach quest "The Smoke Lures" no longer requires Orcs to be defeated.
• Recent mounts such as Steed of Elessar's Host, Sunflower Steed, Rescued Steed of Agarnaith, Goat of the Harvest Sky, and Steed of Eldar Autumn have been added to the Mounts Collection display.
• The Lossoth Steed and Steed of the Dusk-watch now have correct source information in the Mounts Collection panel.
• The Skeleton Steed Rider Bundle can now be used (opened) even if you already have the Riding trait.
• Minor performance improvements were made to the loading of the mounts collection page. Please let us know if you notice anything failing to load properly.
• The Quartermaster "Conquest of Gorgoroth Rewards" now carries a slate of new housing items including statues, stained glass, and decorative flower garlands.
• The character panel no longer hides equipped items that are in the loot filter.
• The cat wander sequence plays smoothly now.
• When a quest is filtered but underway, characters can still interact, advance, and turn in the quest.
• Players should no longer see a Free Hobbit Present button immediately following the redemption of a free present.
• To fix an issue that could prevent their use, the Poorly Hidden Chest, Out-of-Place Strongbox, Out-of-Place Lockbox, and Out-of-Place Chest in the haunted burrow will now disappear and respawn after each opening.
• Gorgoroth Scourge Spoils boxes no longer include Gondor Silver Pieces or Anórien Sealed Wax.
• Dungeons of Naerband - Thraknul's and Flame-spirits' area-of-effect attacks have had their damage lowered.
  [*Dungeons of Naerband - Some monster skills were adjusted to affect Lore-master and Captain pets.
• All bosses in the Tier 2 Dungeons of Naerband and Tier 2 Court of Seregost instances have an increased chance of dropping incomparable gear.
• Rare spawns have been added in Agarnaith and Dor Amarth. This allows Hidden Threats of Gorgoroth to be able to be completed.
• Captain Skills - Dropping power cost from motivating speech and improved motivating speech.
• Items - Took in the Hole Hobnanigans recipe now properly provides +5% incoming healing.
• Lore-master pets and Captain heralds were collecting mobs from a greater area of landscape than desired. Their aggro radius has been halved.
• Collections panel model views are now slightly bigger.
• Kinship leaders are no longer required to abandon a premium kinship house to receive housing writs prior to disbanding a kinship.
• Various small bug fixes for Ilex branches spawned in tree, the exit to Boffin Manor, two patrons in a Bree auction house are sitting on nothing, an invisible water volume, Ralthat's awkwardly positioned shield, floating planks of wood, a floating bush, an oddly misshapen rock formation, and an npc floating over bench.
• The quest bestowal UI in German should now correctly fit the indicators for solo, small fellowship, fellowship, and raid quests.

[Tybur]

Bullroarer is now open for U21.3 preview. I expect the server to close again on Tuesday morning 10/31.

[mirkovic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXwTLJRezas
The New Raid looks fun and Great!

[miriadel]

The mount collections that previously granted titles have been replaced with deeds. To advance one of the mount collection deeds, you must use that mount skill (from the mount collections panel or from skill panel, mounts tab.) New mount collection deeds/titles have also been added for the 2015 & 2016 Festival steeds, Goat mounts, and Gondor mounts!

after 2 years! finally!

[Thorondir]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXwTLJRezas
The New Raid looks fun and Great!

How many Bosses does the new raid have?

[aocume]

How many Bosses does the new raid have?

3 it seems. Not sure if theere are any side/mini bosses. But for raid loot I believe that they are only for 3 bosses.

[Hallandil]

3 it seems. Not sure if theere are any side/mini bosses. But for raid loot I believe that they are only for 3 bosses.

Three as per the deeds handed out (4 technically as one of the fights is one of those "twin" battles).

However, there is a large amount of trash between the fights making use of a giant carved out internal space.

---

On another note, there's some saucy info revealed via the compendium & Item Scanner that players uncovered while on Bullroarer: Details regarding new yule festival cosmetics, gear, pets and mounts; Mordor housing items (already available in the build via the Conquest of Gorgoroth Vendors); Raid barter tokens and TBD armour; Also a barter token for future content (supposedly the next main content update i.e. u22 or u23) mistakenly added to the gave by a dev, spoiling the announcement that would have come with the producer's letter.

[aocume]

Three as per the deeds handed out (4 technically as one of the fights is one of those "twin" battles).

However, there is a large amount of trash between the fights making use of a giant carved out internal space.

I hope what we got from the boss loot after clearing endless trash worth the time we waste on them.

[auximenes]

Lore-master pets and Captain soldiers were collecting mobs from a greater area of landscape than desired. Their aggro radius has been halved.

Captain Heralds you mean?

[Polymachos]

I wonder which effect this will have on the farming groups which have been spoiled the game for by now five years. It would be nice if Eomunds Lair and the pirate ships ouside Dol Amroth would be free again.

And re the last line: There are probably quite a number of Germans who will be relieved that this got fixed. Many here like this game, but don't have such a command of English that they can simply switch to the English version as I do; so they are stuck with the German version. Thank you.


Greetings, Polymachos

[Oelle]

[*]Equipment - Level 105 Featured Instance Armour sets will once again be item level 222.

Just wondering.. whats the reasoning behind this?
I'd have thought there would be something new like lvl115 FI gear but not a nerf of irrelevant old gear... I just dont see why that was done.

[elzeqq]

Abyss of Mordath raid feedback

This should be changed:

- Reduce the amount of trash pulls between bosses and add extra mini bosses.
- Reduce the damage of first boss and add mechanics.

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...97#post7784697

[Cenifh]

Just wondering.. whats the reasoning behind this?
I'd have thought there would be something new like lvl115 FI gear but not a nerf of irrelevant old gear... I just dont see why that was done.

People already bought the Premium instances when level cap was 105 to run Featured Instances, so no reason to keep updating that system because there won't be any profit out of this.

[dwarfThar]

Just wondering.. whats the reasoning behind this?
I'd have thought there would be something new like lvl115 FI gear but not a nerf of irrelevant old gear... I just dont see why that was done.

It's not a nerf, it's a fix. FI gear currently has item level 105 since one of the last hot fixes.
But yeah, updated FI rewards would be welcome.

[Oelle]

People already bought the Premium instances when level cap was 105 to run Featured Instances, so no reason to keep updating that system because there won't be any profit out of this.

sure, logic, all fine with not updating it, like they do with all other old systems. but then why nerf it?

It's not a nerf, it's a fix. FI gear currently has item level 105 since one of the last hot fixes.
But yeah, updated FI rewards would be welcome.

well... thats interesting. I played FI the whole weak and all i got was jewelry with ilvl234. no armour drops the last weak. so i guess, the patchnotes only refer to armour if thats bugged? actually, thats what they say and I just didnt read exact enough :P I just had no issues with any drops there and thought this would be a change that changes nothing or nerfs^^

[NeoBasilisk]

sure, logic, all fine with not updating it, like they do with all other old systems. but then why nerf it?


well... thats interesting. I played FI the whole weak and all i got was jewelry with ilvl234. no armour drops the last weak. so i guess, the patchnotes only refer to armour if thats bugged? actually, thats what they say and I just didnt read exact enough :P I just had no issues with any drops there and thought this would be a change that changes nothing or nerfs^^

I don't know about new drops, but existing armor had its item level reduced to 105 in a previous update. This appears to have been a mistake, because they are now reversing that change.

[Denhith]

Gluttons for punishment, the lot of you (specifically those running/giving feedback on the new raid).
Haven't we learned anything? Didn't people give feedback on the most recent 6-man when it was in BETA (sorry, Alpha) and it got ignored and released anyway?


SSG has a job. Their job is to test their own content and release it to the public in the best state possible. Stop doing their job for them.
I realize they have zero in the way of marketing and promotion for this game, but releasing this stuff onto BR in pieces is just insane.
Test it (internally). Release it.

Side note: Twin bosses again...how many times are they going to use that tired slowly-bring-down-their-morale-together-so-they-die-within-10-seconds-of-each-other mechanic? Wasn't one of the talking points of the Mordor expansion about bringing "new and exiting mechanics to the game"??

[kickman77]

Gluttons for punishment, the lot of you (specifically those running/giving feedback on the new raid).
Haven't we learned anything? Didn't people give feedback on the most recent 6-man when it was in BETA (sorry, Alpha) and it got ignored and released anyway?


SSG has a job. Their job is to test their own content and release it to the public in the best state possible. Stop doing their job for them.
I realize they have zero in the way of marketing and promotion for this game, but releasing this stuff onto BR in pieces is just insane.
Test it (internally). Release it.

Side note: Twin bosses again...how many times are they going to use that tired slowly-bring-down-their-morale-together-so-they-die-within-10-seconds-of-each-other mechanic? Wasn't one of the talking points of the Mordor expansion about bringing "new and exiting mechanics to the game"??

yeah, they meant ash

[siipperi]

Side note: Twin bosses again...how many times are they going to use that tired slowly-bring-down-their-morale-together-so-they-die-within-10-seconds-of-each-other mechanic? Wasn't one of the talking points of the Mordor expansion about bringing "new and exiting mechanics to the game"??

bosses dont have any mechanics present yet...

[gildhur]

Elf heralds yet? Asking for a friend.

[liverpaste]

Please Join us this weekend for an early sneak peek at the new Raid: The Abyss of Mordath.

Thank you Tybur and SSG! It looks amazing and likely the best raid since ToO.

Please do not listen to people saying mobs hit too hard or less trash (ala only boss fights). "Trash" is important in setting the scene of a raid. No more Filikul!

[elzeqq]

Thank you Tybur and SSG! It looks amazing and likely the best raid since ToO.

Please do not listen to people saying mobs hit too hard or less trash (ala only boss fights). "Trash" is important in setting the scene of a raid. No more Filikul!

You can't be serious about this, you clearly have not tried the raid on bullroarer T2, if you say this.
There is ATLEAST 20 trash pulls between bosses, that is not okay. I suggest running stuff before you comment.

[liverpaste]

You can't be serious about this, you clearly have not tried the raid on bullroarer T2, if you say this.

I've run it multiple times on T1 and the number of trash mobs was perfectly fine IMHO but then again I actually enjoy combat as opposed to just opening chests for loot.

[elzeqq]

I've run it multiple times on T1 and the number of trash mobs was perfectly fine IMHO but then again I actually enjoy combat as opposed to just opening chests for loot.

I'd even say that trash to first boss is fine, alright why not but same happens to second boss and theres even more trash pulls to second boss.

[Hallandil]

bosses dont have any mechanics present yet...

Not sure on t1 but on t2 they require separation in order to damage them.