Bullroarer Update 32 - Beta #7 - CLOSED

[LordOfTheSquids]

Bullroarer is CLOSED

Server Opening Time: Wednesday, 02/09 ~12:15 PM EST
Server Closing Time: Friday, 02/11 ~3:00 PM EST (Subject to Change)

• Report A Bug
• Guide to the Eyes and Guard Tavern
• Character Copy is AVAILABLE. This can be accessed through the 'Transfer' button on any LOTRO Launcher.
  
  • PLEASE NOTE: The player database HAS been wiped (on 02/10).
    

KNOWN ISSUE 02/10/22

• The Stable-masters panel and Barter Wallet are not working properly in this build. We hope to have this corrected with a future update.
• This issue has been resolved 02/11/22

Raid: The Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra [12-Player]

"Beyond the falls of Amgaruslun in the Clovengap lies Abnankâra, the Hiddenhoard. Once an ancient treasury wrought in secret by Mótsog and the Greymauls during their rebellion against the Longbeards in the Elder Days, it has become the lair of Hrímil Frost-heart, a dreaded cold-dragon of Morgoth. Within this frozen retreat, Hrímil tends her wounds and slumbers, dreaming of vengeance upon Prince Durin and the dwarves of the Gabil'akkâ..."

• The Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra will initially be available to play on both Tier 1 and Tier 2 difficulties at launch, with Tier 3, Tier 4, and Tier 5 difficulties unlocking in the weeks to come!
• In addition to featuring three exciting new boss encounters including the final confrontation between Durin and Hrímil Frost-heart, this raid also features new rewards, a suite of new deeds, and new, time-limited titles for completing Tier 3, Tier 4, and Tier 5!
• Boss 1 and Boss 2 on Tiers 1-3 are currently available for feedback on Bullroarer.
• The Discovery Deed for this encounter has NOT been bypassed. You can complete the Deed for Gundabad instances with Javatar in the Eyes and Guard Tavern

Release Notes - Beta #7:

New release notes in Violet.

Legendary Item Reward Track:

• Access the Reward Track through the Menu on the left of the Toolbar Slots on the Main Toolbar - (^) - Character > Reward Track.
• Please note this system is functional but very much a work in progress; we want your feedback but please understand that not everything is complete.
• The Reward Track is seasonal. At the end of the season, an all new track will replace the current one. Since this is LI focused, some rewards - Traceries, Token, Ancient Scripts - will reappear season to season, but their frequency and drop value will change over time. More detail on how this works will be provided at a later date.
• Rewards must be claimed in sequence at this time due to technical limitations. This is something we hope to improve in the future.
• Runes applied in bulk is not functioning at this time. We know it's a valuable Quality of Life feature and is a big focus for implementation.
• There will be a repeatable reward at the end of the Reward Track - this will be implemented in a later build.
• We are looking at ways to improve the scroll bar. Your feedback will definitely help drive how this feature will be finalized!

New Housing:
One of Smaug’s last treasure hoards has been opened and the Dwarves of Erebor have moved to reclaim it! Join them in owning a piece of Middle-earth, in the Great Hall under the Mountain!

• This new premium neighbourhood will include twelve Base Premium Houses, one special Base Premium House, six Deluxe Premium Houses, and one Premium Kinship house, along with a full suite of town services and social spaces for you to enjoy with your kinship and neighbors!
• In addition to the new neighbourhood, Erebor Housing introduces new exterior music and Dayfile hook types to allow players even more customization options for their homes.
• NOTE: The Permissions for Private Yards feature announced in previous betas has been removed at this time and will be revisited at a future date.
• Known/Intended Issue: In order to prevent decorations from intruding on other player's properties, the mobile hooks in the lower courtyard of Deluxe Erebor Houses, and the Huge/Enormous Hooks in all Base Erebor Houses have their vertical movement restricted.

The Abodes of Erebor introduce the following new features to housing:

• Cave Dayfiles! Change how you experience subterranean living with a set of Dayfile objects to change the lighting in your front yard!
• Exterior Music! Music Boxes are now available for yards!
• Full suite of town services/travel options!
• Take the high dive into swimmable gold coins!
• Get your friends, enemies and spectators to participate in a life-sized game of chess or checkers!
  - Preview Only:
  
  • Erebor Broker and Real Estate Ledger are accessible in the E&G Tavern basement next to the Rohan Housing Brokers.
  • Decoration items can be purchased from Trotter in Tavern.

General:

• Brawler Belt Buckle icons should now be consistent across crafting tiers.
• Achieving a critical success when crafting Dwarrowgleam Belt Buckles now adds 2 ilevels to the resulting item.
• Achieving a critical success when crafting Dwarrowgleam Stickpins now adds 2 ilevels to the resulting item.
• Class, Race, and Virtue trait slots will now automatically unlock when a character hits the required level, regardless of subscription status or purchase. This does not apply to monster play characters.
• New Adventurer's gear for level 140 characters will now scale to item level 461 - 463.
• Updated German Translations and copyedits for U32.
• Updated French Translations and copyedits for U32.
• A number of quests are now available in The Angle of Mitheithel.
• In the new LI system control UI, the system refers to traceries correctly instead of calling them essences when unslotting and with tooltips of the buttons.
• Bound to Character Traceries and Essences now actually bind the legendary item or slotted item to the character when slotted.
• PvMP Rank cloaks are now gated by Monster Play, and may not be used outside the Ettenmoors.
• Stablemasters in Trollshaws, parts of Eregion, Lothlorien, Southern Mirkwood, and Eryn Lasgalen now use the Elk Travel Mode.
• Added some clarifying dialogue to 'Chapter 6.1: The Artist and the Apprentice' to make it clear which character will advance the quest.
• Enemies in Elderslade and Gundabad missions now execute their induction skills in 5s down from 10s.
• All shields will now offer the Crit Defence and Ranged Defence bonus previously only granted by Heavy (Guardian) shields.
• The reforge UI now has a summary that is accurate and the reforge UI has had it's text updated to reflect the new system.
• Brawlers who complete the class quest "Brawling Lessons" will now receive a new title, "Fearsome Fists", in addition to the existing title. This title will be awarded retroactively to Brawlers who have already completed the quest.
• Players who have achieved the highest reputation with their crafting guild now have access to a recipe that will allow the creation of a Sunstone Shard once every 7 days. See your "Improved Recipes" vendor.
  
  • Please note these recipes require Gundabad (T14) Crafting.
  
  
• The Brawler Abyss Raid Set Armour pieces bartered from the Master of Mordor Lore in Dor Armarth on the Plateau of Gorgoroth are now actually usable by Brawlers.
• Display error on classic essence examination has been fixed.
• Added a vector from Thorenhad in the Trollshaws to guide players to the Angle of Mitheithel.
• Now when you have a unique essence or tracery in two different weapons, you can equip the second weapon without first unequipping the first.
• The Featured Instance rotation has been updated to now include: Dungeons of Dol Guldur, Fornost: Wraith of Water, Seat of the Great Goblin, Iorbar's Peak, Sword-hall of Dol Guldur, and Barad Guldur. The Featured Instance reward packages have been updated, including new armour that will scale to your character level. In order to support this scaling, the reward packages will now decay, so they must be opened within 1 hour or be lost. The Featured Instance (Cap) quests will now require tier 2 completion of the instance. The Featured Challenge quests have been removed.
• The Delver's Essence boxes now allow selection of a vitality essence.
• The Adventurer's Quartermaster and lootbox now offer Delving Adventurer's Essence Boxes.
• Monster Balance - Monsters above level 60 now have a small base Critical Defense rating.
• Legendary Item Rewards
  - Older scaling instances made it much too easy to farm legendary rarity LI items. As a result scaling instances have had their top end LI drops reduced to Incomparable rarity. Non-scaling instances remain unchanged.
  - Players are ending up with lots of inc. or leg. rarity enhancement runes that they have little current use for taking up inventory space. At cap level, rune rewards are now limited to the highest rarity required by a maximum level legendary item. This has no effect on any drops below cap.
• Legendary items may now reach item level 475.
• The Gold restriction has been removed from free and premium accounts. All account types can now have a maximum of 9999 Gold without purchase of the Currency Cap.
• The benefits of the Premium Wallet Upgrade have now been applied to all accounts. The widest possible assortment of barter currencies, including a variety of instance tokens, region barter tokens, festival tokens, taxidermy barter items, and crafting instance tokens, will now automatically go into the barter wallet for all characters on all accounts.
• PREVIEW ONLY: Marks of the Angle were accidentally set to be account-wide rather than character bound. This has been corrected.
  
• Legendary Items - Fixed Incoming Healing progressions on class items, they can now increase to current levels.
• We've had some consistent issues with auto-attacks firing too fast and prior fix attempts have sometimes slowed down regular skill plays unintentionally, so we're trying again.
• The Pelennor Warrior's Gear Rewards Vendor - Master of Battle Lore should now correctly offer Brawler set gear.

Classes:

• Brawler - Changed the builder attacks to all have an animation time of 0.75s. Previously varied from 1.0 to 1.5 depending on the builder.
• Brawler - Come at Me has been buffed. Taunt radius increased (7->12) and base targets increased (3->5).
• Brawler - Weather Blows can now be used in motion.
• Brawler - Strike Towards the Sky range increase (2.5->3.5).
• Brawler - All group buff effects smaller than 10m have been expanded to 10m.
• Brawler - All attack AOE's shorter than 7m have been extended to 7m.
• Brawler - Eager Challenger trait in Blue line changed [-30 -> -20s].
  -- The other 10s is now available on a tracery that also increases the mayhem bubble magnitude.
• Brawler - Critical Chance Increase in Red line now has an additional effect at Tier 5: Critical hits with Finisher skills generate 1 mettle.
• Brawler - Base heal percent for Joy of Battle - Heal increased (1%->3%).
• Brawler - Pummel will no longer cancel early if used with 5 or less mettle.
• Brawler - New traceries have been added to the barter vendor.
• Brawler - Fixed some tracery naming & display issues.
• Burglar - Purge Corruption can now crit.
• Burglar - Hedge Your Bet now heals 5% per pulse on all rolls. It now has a 15-30% chance of applying on each attack, based on the roll.
• Burglar - Honed Wit trait will now properly increase burglar DoTs.
• Burglar - Toned down the bleed on the blue raid set.
• Champion - Bracing Attack can no longer miss or be BPE'd. Damage reduced ~20%.
• Champion - Merciful Strike's crit multipliers were raised to match the default for most skills (x1.5 crit, x2.0 dev).
• Champion - Partially reverted the Bracing attack changes - the skill will now simply apply its self-heal regardless of whether the attack is BPE’d.
• Guardian - Flash of Light now scales with weapon. Damage will now scale up much more effectively into the higher levels.
• Guardian - Flash of Light will now ONLY proc off of your active Take to Heart target. No more exponential AoEs. :P
• Guardian - Catch a Breath CD timer should no longer bug out when war-chant is reducing it.
• Guardian - Shield Smash was incorrectly calculating its AoE from the selected target rather than the guardian.
• Guardian - Shield Smash's arc range has been increased slightly to make up for lost reach now that it is correctly starting from the Guardian.
• Hunter - Lingering Wound skill now applies its DoT again.
• Hunter - Rapid Fire should now properly reduce the cost of Split Shot.
• Hunter - Focus when affected by Song of Aid is now useable both in and out of battle.
• Lore-master - Commune With Nature now has a 180s CD. Nature's Light duration is now 20s. Nature's Gift initial CD has been removed so it can be used immediately. Both these pet skills have an internal CD of 180s.
• Minstrel - Call of Earendil should now reset properly with Cries & Calls.
• Rune-keeper - Some Rune-keeper dot pulse rates increased. Number of pulses is unchanged, so the durations are now shorter, the total damage is the same, but DPS is higher.
  -- Writ of Fire [4->3s]
  -- Scathing Mockery [6->3s]
• Rune-keeper - Fire, Frost, and Lightning skills are all now labeled as such in their tooltips.
• Warden - Tracery Mastery CD has been improved [-3 -> -5s], while Remmorchant set bonus reduced [-5s -> -3s].
• Warden - For the Free Peoples now grants an incoming damage% reduction that increases to -25% at full stack. This replaces its old effect.
• Warden - Heals generally increased.
  
• Warden - Fixed Critical Defense debuffs not scaling correctly.

Instances:

• Raid: The Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra
  General:
  
  • Cold-drakes are now Immune to CC.
  • Enthralled Guardians are now Immune to CC.
  • Enthralled Frost-callers now have Adaptation on T3+.
  
  Heirs of Thyrstath:
  
  • Certain skills will now target players correctly.
  • Various fixes.
  • Blizzards should no longer stay open between attempts.
  • Damage over time to the target of the Blizzard has been reduced.
  • Blizzard size has been reduced.
  • Avalanche skill damage has been reduced.
  • The timing for skills for both Avalanche and Blizzard have been increased, for more chance for players to move out.
  
  Dushtalbuk:
  
  • Dushtalbuk now moves 25% faster.
  • Maul's cooldown has been reduced from 15s to 10s (10s to 5s during the 'Warlord Phase') and its range has been increased from 3m to 5m.
  • Maul's slow now begins at 20%, up from 10% and increases by 5% per rank of Maul.
  • Brittle Chains have had their health reduced slightly.
  • Dushtalbuk no longer flinches when being hit.
  
  
• Houses of Rest - Vethug Wintermind will no longer become unattackable on Duo and Fellowship group sizes after being reset.

PREVIEW ONLY:

• Drachyn in the Eyes & Guard Tavern will now barter gear from the Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra Raid. The raid completion deeds required to barter for this gear can also be completed by speaking to Drachyn.
• Dust in the Eyes & Guard Tavern stairwell will now sell boxes ("Tavern Chest of Embers (10k)") containing Embers of Enchantment, making it easier to quickly barter for gear in the test tavern.

[Harvain]

Class, Race, and Virtue trait slots will now automatically unlock when a character hits the required level, regardless of subscription status or purchase. This does not apply to monster play characters.

A Monetization Change in the Correct Direction: Decreasing and in this way removing it fully from the Process.

More of this & less pushing Lootbox Monetization Mechanics.

If we start seeing actual Game Performance Improvement and Customer Service actually being down to Hours for Response Times here in the near future, LOTRO will have all the elements it needs to drawing folks back and bring new folks in.

[HolyDuckTape]

Instances:

• House of Rest - Damage Adjustments - Several abilities have had their damage decreased.

Why is an instance that's already a super joke dmg-wise being nerfed even further? If you actually took the time to gear yourself up even before the 1st nerf happened, the dmg taken was already too low imo. If you actually got yourself some purple gear and some mitigation essences even on the 1st build on boss 2 you would never die as any role. Why is this instance's dmg being balanced around people that don't want to gear?

On t3:
1st boss deals no damage and doesn't have mechanics, can also be kited if you want to do it with level 115 players
2nd boss deals no damage, blizzard can be ignored, puddle can be semi-ignored and it only takes 2 meters to step out lul, aoe can be ignored or just avoided by stepping 8 meters away, only 2 adds (that do nothing on top of it).
3rd boss is still weaker than a house dummy

How about the mechanics get fixed (and many more added) and the dmg gets increased instead to make it an actual good quality instance? Currently everything about this instance is an absolute mess, you are very late to give us 3 miserable low-quality instances, the gundabad instance cluster is a joke

[Nanganark]

Release Notes - Beta #4:

General:

• Class, Race, and Virtue trait slots will now automatically unlock when a character hits the required level, regardless of subscription status or purchase. This does not apply to monster play characters.

A bit of a joke, don't you think? This is all unlocked when you become VIP and otherwise not and now it is free for all? what get VIP in return?

[gildhur]

• Brawler - Changed the builder attacks to all have an animation time of 0.75s. Previously varied from 1.0 to 1.5 depending on the builder.
• Brawler - Come at Me has been buffed. Taunt radius increased (7->12) and base targets increased (3->5).
• Brawler - Weather Blows can now be used in motion.

Excellent! Thank you!

Could we also have the AOE targets yellow trait affect Come At Me? Max 5 targets for a main tank taunt is not sufficient, especially when none of our skills specifically add threat. Taunt or bust.

[Orauk]

@HolyDuckTape -- I strongly disagree with your comment here. See below if you're interested in my thoughts,
Prior to House of Rest I had completed both of the other T3 instances (Den and Assault) and my gear was pretty close to cap per my understanding. I have overcapped mits with scrolls and a bit over 700k morale unbuffed with this setup (I had to slot some old vit essences to even hit that mark as not all my virtues are capped). Despite this, the second boss uses a random single target mechanic that will kill me in one shot if we don't bring both an LM and a burglar to debuff. The second boss also has several mechanics you have to pay attention to, the run-away and the additional add. Overall the fight isn't particularly challenging mechanically; I do agree that the puddles and the blizzard are pretty negligible (though it looks like the blizzard stacks up as the fight goes on), but it isn't that far out of line with initial releases of t3 bosses for prior expansions and content per my recollection. My hope is that the nerfed damage will allow us to bring either a burg or an LM and another DPS character so we can have an easier time getting through the boss's ridiculous health pool.

Similarly, you've mentioned that the 1st boss can be easily tanked and has no mechanics. I haven't seen this either. The mechanics are pretty minimal if you kite the boss (which is the only way I've seen this boss cleared) but the Dwarf Lords do have puddles, inductions, bleeds, etc to pay attention to. In my experience, IF you stand and tank you can survive for as long as the tank has good enough cooldowns active, and with good enough DPS I can imagine clearing out enough Dwarf Lords that you might be able to survive the rest, but it definitely isn't something I've managed. Again, if the damage was mitigated a bit more, we'd be more likely to try to see if we could survive face-tanking the Dwarf Lords which would allow us to speed up the kill time compared to our current kiting strategy.

I would agree that the third boss is not particularly challenging and the damage for several of his mechanics could be toned up. He is mostly a training dummy. However again, I think the biggest issue is that all the bosses still have hugely bloated hit pools, which makes the process of killing them seem more tedious/boring.

Side note: I like the Assault on Durstrok instance, and I think Den of Puglak is pretty neat as well, though the stuns can get a bit frustrating. Really the House of Rest was the only instance that I find painful to run.

[Harvain]

A bit of a joke, don't you think? This is all unlocked when you become VIP and otherwise not and now it is free for all? what get VIP in return?

Why would VIPs or those who bought said Trait Slots for Class, Race & Virtue get anything in return for such a change?

For example, I know I bought several Class & Race Trait Slots years and years ago during a period of time when I was F2P.

Why would I or anyone get any form of return on such?

[Nanganark]

Why would VIPs or those who bought said Trait Slots for Class, Race & Virtue get anything in return for such a change?

For example, I know I bought several Class & Race Trait Slots years and years ago during a period of time when I was F2P.

Why would I or anyone get any form of return on such?

I just mean that you no longer benefit from the vip... because this is free for all now, so what do the VIP get instead?

[Uroc]

I just mean that you no longer benefit from the vip... because this is free for all now, so what do the VIP get instead?

That is fair question. Could be that they will bring something new for vips?

[vleydwyyn]

[*]Class, Race, and Virtue trait slots will now automatically unlock when a character hits the required level, regardless of subscription status or purchase. This does not apply to monster play characters.

Awesome, thanks!

[Lofar]

That is fair question. Could be that they will bring something new for vips?

How about a new weekly quest for VIPs that would award a black steel key?

[Fantomex]

A bit of a joke, don't you think? This is all unlocked when you become VIP and otherwise not and now it is free for all? what get VIP in return?

All the other VIP perks.

Modestly less value =/= not valuable. I award you no points, and may Eru have mercy on your soul.

[Harvain]

I just mean that you no longer benefit from the vip... because this is free for all now, so what do the VIP get instead?

That is fair question. Could be that they will bring something new for vips?

A VIP Subscription's Value will go down a bit in terms of what it fully offers but at this time I don't think we need to worry about VIPs getting a replacement for such.

Other areas of Monetization need to also be either Lowered or Removed akin to this change and then later build up what VIPs get to have far more enticing reasons to get a Subscription for LOTRO.

What ways this could be done will depend on the person and we've seen things ranging from: Older Expansions for VIPs, Special Vendors for VIPs, a always with you VIP Services during a Subscription (I don't think this should be done, keep the Data footprint smaller and growing less not more) and so on.

While this is a small change, it's in the correct direction. We need more reasons for folks to try and stay with LOTRO. Which means SSG needs to take short term hits for long term success & growth.

[Vilan]

A bit of a joke, don't you think? This is all unlocked when you become VIP and otherwise not and now it is free for all? what get VIP in return?

I'm premium and I've bought all the quest packs over the years. Then SSG went and gave them away for free! The nerve! I want my money back!

[Uroc]

While this is a small change, it's in the correct direction. We need more reasons for folks to try and stay with LOTRO. Which means SSG needs to take short term hits for long term success & growth.

I agree. As I also don't have anything against giving for example quests for free. Only what makes me wonder what will they do to make people to pay for sub, if that is what they want. Those perks that left does not, seems to me at least, worth 10-15$ monthly through the whole year.

[Hallandil]

A bit of a joke, don't you think? This is all unlocked when you become VIP and otherwise not and now it is free for all? what get VIP in return?

Quite the opposite. This removes some of the many up-front costs that make the game very inaccessible for new players. I'm extremely glad to see this gone.

[Nanganark]

The Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra:
Boss Room #1
Bosses: Threkvegg, Armód and Kvethár.

Have too much morale for T1, in my opinion each of these bosses has 504,921,600 morale, especially since some of the bleeds are way too strong, plus it's annoying to get a one-shot in a T1 raid because a boss casts through 1x

[Harvain]

I agree. As I also don't have anything against giving for example quests for free. Only what makes me wonder what will they do to make people to pay for sub, if that is what they want. Those perks that left does not, seems to me at least, worth 10-15$ monthly through the whole year.

Yeah, it would depend on the Account who was VIP and had all of these Trait Slots. With an Account that had more Characters = the VIP Sub having more Value compared to an Account with say only has a handful of Characters.

I think one area where SSG can make VIP more enticing is having extra benefits per Payment Type. Keep the Base every VIP gets X elements with Quest Packs being the key example and then add extra things to each one.

As it stands if an individual would get VIP Status for a full 12 Months in the 4 Payment Types it would cost the following:

- $14.99 USD per Month or $179.88 USD per every 12 months.

- $29.97 USD per 3 Months or $119.88 USD per every 12 months.

- $59.94 USD per 6 Months or $119.88 USD per every 12 months.

- $99.99 USD per 12 months.

So have all 4 Payment Types with Extras to each especially the 3 larger upfront Payment Types.

Nothing that would be considered Game Breaking or completely unfair as not everyone will have the ability to say purchase a $99.99 USD 12 Month LOTRO Subscription but using this as an example of Extras like Special Cosmetics, Titles, Character Portrait(s), possibly Mounts, etc. I do think that SSG needs to bite the bullet & give at least the Mines of Moria Expansion either to every Account or as part of the VIP Subscriptions as it is such a key part of LOTRO where a Player gets their New Legendary Items.

The other thing to do is while you can get X things for doing a VIP Sub, you can also purchase the majority of everything offered from the LOTRO Store as well. Keep things such as a special Title & Character Portrait only with a VIP Sub.

This would have a two-fold purpose of increasing the Value of the VIP Subscription & also ensuring folks who are willing to spend Money on LOTRO Points to get a specific elements also have said chance.

[Nanganark]

Quite the opposite. This removes some of the many up-front costs that make the game very inaccessible for new players. I'm extremely glad to see this gone.

I agree with you already, but it's a pity..., a reason for me not to buy VIP anymore, because the current advantages I have from the VIP (year VIP) are.

1. Ettenmoors (currently not, since no real promised map change came, and you can't wear the armor in PvE anymore).

2. VIP crafting and repair cost bonuses (There I still wish an NPC for the house, so that you can also accept them in your own house or that you can carry them around like the mailbox, without taking the quest every 2nd day again).

For more I don't have the VIP at all, because I already bought every expansion and quest area (before there was this code).

Sure I support LotRO over and over again, even if I partly ask myself what for? No offense, I know SSG is trying hard to fix the problems..., but I'm still not really satisfied..., and yet I still support LotRO

[Nanganark]

Yeah, it would depend on the Account who was VIP and had all of these Trait Slots. With an Account that had more Characters = the VIP Sub having more Value compared to an Account with say only has a handful of Characters.

I think one area where SSG can make VIP more enticing is having extra benefits per Payment Type. Keep the Base every VIP gets X elements with Quest Packs being the key example and then add extra things to each one.

As it stands if an individual would get VIP Status for a full 12 Months in the 4 Payment Types it would cost the following:

- $14.99 USD per Month or $179.88 USD per every 12 months.

- $29.97 USD per 3 Months or $119.88 USD per every 12 months.

- $59.94 USD per 6 Months or $119.88 USD per every 12 months.

- $99.99 USD per 12 months.

So have all 4 Payment Types with Extras to each especially the 3 larger upfront Payment Types.

Nothing that would be considered Game Breaking or completely unfair as not everyone will have the ability to say purchase a $99.99 USD 12 Month LOTRO Subscription but using this as an example of Extras like Special Cosmetics, Titles, Character Portrait(s), possibly Mounts, etc. I do think that SSG needs to bite the bullet & give at least the Mines of Moria Expansion either to every Account or as part of the VIP Subscriptions as it is such a key part of LOTRO where a Player gets their New Legendary Items.

The other thing to do is while you can get X things for doing a VIP Sub, you can also purchase the majority of everything offered from the LOTRO Store as well. Keep things such as a special Title & Character Portrait only with a VIP Sub.

This would have a two-fold purpose of increasing the Value of the VIP Subscription & also ensuring folks who are willing to spend Money on LOTRO Points to get a specific elements also have said chance.

So for these high prices you can expect a bit more I think..., so not because I'm stingy or something..., but really now Special Title? Character-Portrait? well...

[CaerArianrhod]

Why is an instance that's already a super joke dmg-wise being nerfed even further?

Because of you.
Every time you hyperventilate over non-existent damage - and that is the only thing you seem to do here in the forums - the devs know exactly, that they need to do the opposite.

[Harvain]

So for these high prices you can expect a bit more I think..., so not because I'm stingy or something..., but really now Special Title? Character-Portrait? well...

You have to offer something that is enticing and as I had stated, it shouldn't be Game Breaking or outside of someone's reach and those 2 example would be something that isn't such a big deal. Just something extra and as a way for said Account to mark themselves as being in the given example a $99.99 USD 12 Month VIP.

[theultimatekyle]

The attack duration reduction for brawler mettle builders is appreciated, but it really doesnt fit the overall cooldown of the skills. It would feel better if the skill cooldown was reduced to something closer to 1.2 seconds, instead of 2. Get serious also needs a cooldown reduction if you want to address some of the mettle building issues brawler has.

Fixing lingering wound is also nice, but its bleed needs to be longer than 10 seconds, and both the bleed and the initial hit are well below the damage of barbed arrow, despite lingering wound being one of the "specialty skills" of the hunters yellow line.

[mizkid]

Brawler - Maelstrom Melee Damage is now 25% instead of 5%
Brawler - Pummel now does 200% more damage.

POG thanks SSG!

[TobiasEstForte]

A bit of a joke, don't you think? This is all unlocked when you become VIP and otherwise not and now it is free for all? what get VIP in return?

Technically the traits are not a sub benefit because they are not removed (off currently existing characters) when you remove your sub. You yourself could have just chosen to stop paying after 1 month to keep those, so ask yourself why you keep paying if those aren't actually a variable to consider? And there's your answer on "What VIPs get".