Bullroarer Focus for Update 15

[xRaina]

Welcome all to Bullroarer for Update 15!

I know you’re all excited to see what is to come for this update. The developers have a lot in store as we jump into the first round of preview. I do not want to give too much away and ruin the fun of exploring the new additions, so here are some very brief introductions to what you can see on Bullroarer.


Epic Volume IV, Book 2: The Dawnless Day
Nine new chapters continue Volume 4 of the Epic story. The Dawnless Day takes your character from Lothiriel in Dol Amroth, down into Central Gondor in pursuit of the Corsair fleet!

Epic Battle: Retaking Pelargir
Tied in with the Epic story, the new Epic Battle: Retaking Pelargir, offers a (currently) solo or duo experience – joining forces with key characters to fight off the Corsairs and take Pelargir back for Gondor. This space still has some work left to polish it up, but please feel free to bug an issues you come across and leave a lot of feedback.

New Region – Central Gondor
Central Gondor is comprised of 4 new zones: Ringlo Vale, Dor-en-Ernil, Lebennin, and Pelargir. These areas have a large number of new quests to do and a vast landscape to visit.
Each zone has its own Warbands, Roaming Bosses, Bounties, and End-game repeatables.
The developers would love feedback on the flow of quests, difficulty, landscape polish, and anything else you feel needs to be said!

New Class – Beorning
Beornings are designed to be a dynamic class – with their skills emphasizing the difference between human and bear forms.
The Beorning is set up like any other LOTRO class – with three trait trees, 9 possible racial traits, class deeds, class quests, legendary weapons, gear sets, and multiple available roles for a variety of situations.
Beorning Mounted Combat is still under construction, but feel free to give it a try and file bugs/leave feedback!
As mentioned elsewhere – the options in character creation for Beornings are still in development. All hairstyles, and most details are still being worked on and are currently placeholder.

Music System Update
The primary update to the music system for Update 15 is pitch improvements for existing instruments. Instruments will now sound more true to life. Now is the time to bring out those ABC files, play around with music manually, join your friends, and take a good long look at the music system.

Cosmetic Pets and Collections
Update 15 brings several new cosmetic pets, tied to Central Gondor and the Yule Festival, as well as some new collections. Take a look on the Reputation vendors and in your Collections panel for more information.

New Epic Battle Currency
In order to make the reward system a little less random, rewards at level 100 will now give a box of new currency (with Pelargir having its own special boxes) to be used at barter vendors. Rewards below level 100 will remain the same at this time. Currency rewarded will depend upon if the space is completed at Broze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum.



As always, if anything seem strange or broken, please /bug! The best way to make sure a problem is fixed is to /bug.

Remember to leave a lot of detail-filled feedback. I promise I read every post, even if I cannot reply to all of them. This feedback is always passed on to the developers for careful consideration.

Thank you all for joining in the preview and I’ll see you on Bullroarer!

[xRaina]

RE: The Eyes and Guard Tavern

Leveling NPCs are OFF at least for this round of testing.

Turbine Point, Mithril Coin, and in-game coin NPCs are ON.



The developers would like you to try out leveling the Beorning naturally - not auto-leveling.

Leveling NPCs may be turned on again for a later round of testing.

It's okay if you choose to use XP enhancers, however.


Character transfer is available for transferring high-level characters to look at the new Epic and Region.

[Castorix]

New Region – Central Gondor
Central Gondor is comprised of 4 new zones: Ringlo Vale, Dor-en-Ernil, Lebennin, and Pelargir. These areas have a large number of new quests to do and a vast landscape to visit.
Each zone has its own Warbands, Roaming Bosses, Bounties, and End-game repeatables.
The developers would love feedback on the flow of quests, difficulty, landscape polish, and anything else you feel needs to be said!

I quickly tested several Warbands with my Guardian on foot (Skorneval, Hamarsun, Hokhir, Shatupash, Darik, Shataz) and mounted (Vilosh)
Most of them are like in West Gondor, a lot too easy, nearly impossible to be killed except during the stuns of Shatupash or by Vilosh (the only challenging one) if dismounted and cannot mount again...

[Vulcwen]

Hmm.. why is this not sticky?
Quite important to read this I guess.

[lynlai]

I noticed at level 50 blueline Beornings have 2 interrupt skills: Vicious Claws and Armour Crush. Redline still has NO interrupt skill.

Redline has skills based on target marking and, yet, has no ability to mark targets.

There is a 2+ second period of time when changing from bear to human during a fight that all skills are grayed out and you are still taking damage but cannot fight back. Changing from human to bear form is instant.

Tier 3 Thrash deed is asking too much. 1. We're not in bear form at all times to use this skill; 2. It's not just using the skill but we have to work it up to Tier 3. Sometimes it seems not to tier up and by the time you're at Tier 3 the mob is dead. It's a lesser amount required than other deeds, however, would rather have Use Thrash X times and have that # increased.

Also, I feel that the auto drain of Wrath is too much considering how much Wrath is used for skills.

And, yes, please make this thread a sticky!!! Almost missed it!

EDIT: Raina, in Gondor only my characters cannot see the ground, buildings, bridges or boats. I simply fall through and struggle to move. I've restarted the game client, rebooted computer and still have this problem. Checked on another account and have the same problem. I've only heard 2 other people mention having the same problem in world chat. Should I reinstall bullroarer?

EDIT2: Deleted the client, reinstalled. Still, cannot see the ground in Gondor. :/ Bullroarer is the only server affected by this. Please help!

[greatlord365]

It's really up to you. Yes, we would prefer you delete any Beorning that was made using the Tavern and work from scratch, but at this stage of the game we aren't going to ask you to do that. Using the character you have created will not invalidate your testing, and we should be able to distinguish the legitimate bugs from the false bugs.

This was simply a case of us not thinking ahead - Beta woes.

Ok Will do thanks. Also How much longer is the server going to be online ? Can i play it tonight and tomorrow or ?

[Kehleyr]

Ok Will do thanks. Also How much longer is the server going to be online ? Can i play it tonight and tomorrow or ?

The server is currently scheduled to come down tomorrow, Tuesday the 14th, at 1 PM Eastern time.

[greatlord365]

The server is currently scheduled to come down tomorrow, Tuesday the 14th, at 1 PM Eastern time.

Will it go back online this coming weekend ? Also Frelorn said something about a mac client being released this week. any eta on that ?

[PKCrichton]

Will it go back online this coming weekend ? Also Frelorn said something about a mac client being released this week. any eta on that ?

It typically comes back up on Thursdays but sometimes is pushed to Friday. This is a short week so I would assume Friday.

[Kehleyr]

Will it go back online this coming weekend ? Also Frelorn said something about a mac client being released this week. any eta on that ?

We don't have a formal schedule in place for when Beta will resume - keep an eye on this forum for an announcement.

I don't have any information on the Mac installer, however Frelorn is pretty good about keeping the community informed when he has stuff to share.

[greatlord365]

We don't have a formal schedule in place for when Beta will resume - keep an eye on this forum for an announcement.

I don't have any information on the Mac installer, however Frelorn is pretty good about keeping the community informed when he has stuff to share.

Ok Thanks for the info

[CaerArianrhod]

Hello,

I don't know where else to bring this topic.
Please take care of the Translation.
I know from every Update from the past, that you change the (english) wording very often. But please this time you may try such a thing like a "freeze", so the translation team has the time for its job. (ah ...and a side plea: pls. do not use google again for translating: no one like to see "chest"[anatomy] instead of "box" in the hous, like in the german transl. last time)
It is always a "horror" and may players fear, when you log in after an update and the description of your skills/traits or quest are broken, mixed in language or just cut.

Thank You!
CA

[Sullo]

RE: The Eyes and Guard Tavern

Leveling NPCs are OFF at least for this round of testing.

Turbine Point, Mithril Coin, and in-game coin NPCs are ON.



The developers would like you to try out leveling the Beorning naturally - not auto-leveling.

Leveling NPCs may be turned on again for a later round of testing.

It's okay if you choose to use XP enhancers, however.


Character transfer is available for transferring high-level characters to look at the new Epic and Region.

In the future, would it be possible to get an in-game mail with this type of information, at least the first time a character logs into Bullroarer? There were dozens if not hundreds of players in the /world channel who kept asking about these exact topics.

[Kehleyr]

In the future, would it be possible to get an in-game mail with this type of information, at least the first time a character logs into Bullroarer? There were dozens if not hundreds of players in the /world channel who kept asking about these exact topics.

In game mail would require development work and is not exactly practical for a temporary Beta purpose.

This kind of information is exactly what these forums are for - to keep you informed of our testing requirements. It's expected that anyone with a serious intent of participating in a Beta Program consults the forums regularly.

[Kehleyr]

Hello,

I don't know where else to bring this topic.
Please take care of the Translation.
I know from every Update from the past, that you change the (english) wording very often. But please this time you may try such a thing like a "freeze", so the translation team has the time for its job. (ah ...and a side plea: pls. do not use google again for translating: no one like to see "chest"[anatomy] instead of "box" in the hous, like in the german transl. last time)
It is always a "horror" and may players fear, when you log in after an update and the description of your skills/traits or quest are broken, mixed in language or just cut.

Thank You!
CA

Please Bug any translations that are missing or incorrect.

[CaerArianrhod]

Please Bug any translations that are missing or incorrect.

I never do this in the 1. Beta, because i can not /bug the entirely beta ;-)
Seriously: i will try!
This time (i.e. in the 1. beta), nothing from the new content was really right:
quests: all in english, questgiver's chat-text: all in english
beorning skills etc. mixed german and english or only english
map: mixed language
new class essences: mixed language or only english
Beorning character-cretation: introductorytext mixed language and the german part of it was from the Captain.

But i know: this was the very 1. beta.

Regads
CA