Update 17 Beta 1 Release Notes & Known Issues - PRELIMINARY AND NON-FINAL - BULLROARER ONLY

[TKH]

Still no Mighty armor for Beornings in Dol Amroth? These swan-knights must really hate beary people D:

But with the change in Morgul Crest dropped by Roving Threat and Crafting, I guess developers try to goad players to these options instead.

[siipperi]

Still no Mighty armor for Beornings in Dol Amroth? These swan-knights must really hate beary people D:

But with the change in Morgul Crest dropped by Roving Threat and Crafting, I guess developers try to goad players to these options instead.

Crafted armor and faramirs armor are always options.

[TKH]

Crafted armor and faramirs armor are always options.

Two out of three for other classes. Only two for Beornings.

Anyway, I like shiny new things, so I can just shrug about DA Might essence armor set and strive for whatever new set in new regions.

[Wibz]

The performance in this instance is horrible.



I rest my case.

PS. in before someone try to teach me about graphics and smooth gameplay. 2015 vs 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vUtSE4gKUk

It's been clear since the release of Riders of Rohan that Turbine are willing to release graphic content that their game engine can't display smoothly (ie somewhere close to 60fps) and that they are unable/unwilling to upgrade the engine to handle the graphics.

It's just another part of Lotro that we have to accept that Turbine won't fix.

[Atrixzia]

The following release notes are for the Bullroarer public test server only and may not reflect the final list of changes or updates included at release.

These notes are not final and should be viewed as a work in progress and subject to change.

The Eyes and Guard Tavern is now open!
Your live characters may be copied to Bullroarer. In your normal game launcher, access the transfer service, select your server, select characters, select copy to Bullroarer. Copies via the transfer service CANNOT currently be accessed from the Bullroarer launcher.

Important Note: Please be aware that the build you are seeing here is a work in progress and is by no means the finished Update 17 product. There are items that are not yet complete. There may also be items missing from this initial list, this is not intentional and will be added as we progress.

Known Issues:

1. German and French localization for this beta build is missing in many many places.
2. The Epic book quests are not available during this open beta.
3. The Epic Battle: Hammer of the Underworld is not available during this open beta.
4. In the Epic Battle: Defence of Minas Tirith, the secondary quest "Despair in the Streets" is not fully implemented, and the portcullis doors currently interfere with soldier movement. Additionally, difficulty balance is not complete for the epic battles.
5. In Minas Tirith, Bergil's quests are not completable.

Release Notes:
Update 17 includes Old Anórien with three new regions (Talath Anor, Pelennor Fields, and Minas Tirith), two new epic battles, a new crafting tier, and an extension of the imbued legendary item system. You can also see a beta version of our new Store.

Cosmetic Weapons:

• You can now turn off your weapons when they are sheathed by clicking the new eye icons in the cosmetic outfit page. In combat, the weapons will reappear.
• Cosmetic weapon visibility rules have been loosened. We have set up a number of categories of items that can be interchanged with each other: all one-handed weapons (including cosmetic-only items), all shields, two-handed clubs/swords/implements, and two-handed hammers/axes/halberds. All other categories (such as Staff, Spear, etc) can only be interchanged with other staffs, spears, etc.You can no longer waste a dye trying to dye shields in the wardrobe.
• Shields and weapons should again appear at their normal size.

Crafting:

• Crafters now have access to a tenth crafting tier: the Anórien crafting tier. Crafters of this tier can use Poplar, Anórien Skarn, Zircon, and Tattered Anórien Parchments to craft items for level 100 characters.
• All crafting nodes can now be harvested while mounted.
• All crafting materials stack to 500.
• There is no longer a distinction between Vegetable, Grain, and Pipe-weed Farmlands. There is now only one kind of Farmland.
• East Gondor craft nodes have been replaced with the tier 10 craft nodes also found in Old Anórien.

Imbued Legendary Items:

• DPS / Main Item Legacies have been granted 4 more available tiers and can unlock an additional 4.
• Imbued stat Legacies have been granted 6 more available tiers and can unlock an additional 3.
• All other imbued legacies have been granted 3 more available tiers and can unlock an additional 6.

Burglar

Burglar's Gamble Chance Legacy now gives Cash Out Damage after tier 35.

Captain

Muster Courage Fear Resist now grants Shield/Song/Blade-brother Critical Defence after Tier 35.

Champion

Swift Strike/Swift Blade Power Cost has a maximum tier of 38.

Guardian

Guardian's Pledge Cooldown now gives Retaliation Damage after Tier 35.

Guardian's Pledge Magnitude now gives Shield Swipe Damage after tier 35.

Turn the Tables Cooldown now gives Turn the Tables Damage after tier 35.

Hunter

Strength Quick Shot Slow now gives more chance to get extra Focus after tier 35.

Quick Shot Critical Chance now gives more Quick Shot critical damage after tier 35.

Loremaster

Signs of Power Durations now grants Signs of Power Debuff Rating after Tier 35.

Minstrel

Cry of the Chorus Cooldown now grants Ballad Critical Magnitude after Tier 35.

Triumphant Spirit Cooldown now grants Triumphant Spirit Critical Magnitude after Tier 35.

Rally Cooldown now grants Major Ballad Healing after Tier 35.

Anthem Duration now grants Melee Skills Critical Rating after Tier 35.

Still as Death Cooldown now grants Song of Distraction Cooldown after Tier 35.

Call to Ioreth Cooldown now grants Call to Ioreth Healing Skills Critical Magnitude after Tier 35.

Rune-Keeper

Healing Attuned Power Cost now grants Revive Morale and Power Restoration after Tier 35.

Battle Attuned Power Cost now grants Chill of Winter Target Resistance penalty after Tier 35.

Steady Attuned Power Cost now grants Armour of the Elements Tactical Mitigation after Tier 35.

Class changes:

• Beornings now have access to Bows.
• The Beorning Club-damage trait now applies to axes as well.
• Beornings with more than 100 Wrath should gain +15% Crit Chance from the Wrathful trait, instead of +0%.
• Champion Horns can no longer miss. They can still be resisted.
• Minstrel - Call to Ioreth now grants +5% critical magnitude to healing skills, in addition to making the next healing skill automatically a critical hit.
• Wardens will now animate properly when using the Taunt skill when unarmed.

Other stuff:

• Hope Tokens now have a 3-minute cooldown, instead of 15 minutes.
• All 6-man and 12-man Roving Threats now have a chance to drop Morgul Crests.
• The Dome of Stars, The Ruined City, and The Sunken Labyrinth now all give 1 Morgul Crest upon completion of the tier 2 instance. This is in addition to any Morgul Crests from the tier 2 Challenge chest.
• Epic Battles - fixed merit progress display for some of the secondary quests which used to not show any progress at all.
• There's a new option that allows you to control the opacity of floating names on the UI Settings options page.
• Added an audio option to disable combat music. When checked, landscape music plays uninterrupted by combat.
• A handful of tweaks have been made to the player music system: Bagpipe notes should no longer clip, the Misty Mountain Harp has had its note lengths slightly shortened, and the Theorbo's seven highest notes should now sound more like a Theorbo.
• Level-scaled players should no longer lose their scaling buff when teleporting between Ettenmoors and Osgiliath.
• In the Battle for Osgiliath, Creep NPCs have less Morale and Freep NPCs have more.
• The store now has a minimum width of 600px to prevent the scrollbar from disappearing.

Some nice things i particularly like the idea of bieng able to hide sheathed weapons. No more walking around with your bow and sword sticking out of you cloak.

[Macroscian]

Quick shot boost...again? Is Hunter now named Red Line Hunter? I find that extremely bad. All we ask for is a boost to blue and yellow.

Bah.

It's not a little oopsie. It's a big, bad oops.

[Geventh]

Imbued Legendary Items:

• DPS / Main Item Legacies have been granted 4 more available tiers and can unlock an additional 4.
• Imbued stat Legacies have been granted 6 more available tiers and can unlock an additional 3.
• All other imbued legacies have been granted 3 more available tiers and can unlock an additional 6.

Can we get a revamp on Stats (Vitality, Might, Agility, Will, Fate) along with a proper rating to % formula. Some are useless others are not desired over raw Mastery.
Keep the same legacies for pre-/post-imbument so there is no reason to not imbue or a have a non-imbued swap LI.

Burglar

Burglar's Gamble Chance Legacy now gives Cash Out Damage after tier 35.

Gamble Chance is too high to begin with and makes the RNG factor of this traitline pointless.

Captain

Muster Courage Fear Resist now grants Shield/Song/Blade-brother Critical Defence after Tier 35.

Minimal benefit...

Champion

Swift Strike/Swift Blade Power Cost has a maximum tier of 38.

So whats the point of imbued LI?

Guardian

Guardian's Pledge Cooldown now gives Retaliation Damage after Tier 35.

Guardian's Pledge Magnitude now gives Shield Swipe Damage after tier 35.

Turn the Tables Cooldown now gives Turn the Tables Damage after tier 35.

Too random & pointless. Why not combine Pledge CD with Magnitude(minimal increase)?
Add a new legacy: Parry Response Skill Damage or Melee Skill Critical Multiplier
Guardians Area of Effect Skill Damage should also increase targets. (+5 like pre-Imbument)
Shield Damage legacy (Belt) gives same amount pre-/post imbuement (25%)

Hunter

Strength Quick Shot Slow now gives more chance to get extra Focus after tier 35.

Quick Shot Critical Chance now gives more Quick Shot critical damage after tier 35.

Replace QS Slow legacy with Focus Bow Damage(1.5x/2x of what Induction Bow damage gives). (60% slow is broken in PvE/PvP and not needed along with Champions Duel Slow)
There are too many Induction Bow legacies, traits, BB-set that will eventually make Focus Bow skills obsolete.
I like the second one.

Minstrel

Cry of the Chorus Cooldown now grants Ballad Critical Magnitude after Tier 35.

Triumphant Spirit Cooldown now grants Triumphant Spirit Critical Magnitude after Tier 35.

Rally Cooldown now grants Major Ballad Healing after Tier 35.

Anthem Duration now grants Melee Skills Critical Rating after Tier 35.

Still as Death Cooldown now grants Song of Distraction Cooldown after Tier 35.

Call to Ioreth Cooldown now grants Call to Ioreth Healing Skills Critical Magnitude after Tier 35.

Some are pointless, minis dont needs any buffs to healing. They could use some improvement to yellowline/anthem buffs.

"Increase CD of Bolster Courage to 1.5s and remove AoE heal passive from blueline
Increase Power Costs on healing skills
Remove CD of Raise the Spirit
Slightly buff Inspire Fellow, maybe lower CD by 1-2s.
Increase CD of Triumphant Spirit, Cry of the Chorus and Still As Death."

Rune-Keeper

Healing Attuned Power Cost now grants Revive Morale and Power Restoration after Tier 35.

Battle Attuned Power Cost now grants Chill of Winter Target Resistance penalty after Tier 35.

Steady Attuned Power Cost now grants Armour of the Elements Tactical Mitigation after Tier 35.

They are too random but whatever...

Good Suggestions:
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...ated-for-16-2)
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...balance-update

[Hurin]

A) You're the one who said you NEED to, not us.

Yes, and you (plural, since you said "us") are the ones who take that word, seize upon it, attach all sorts of pedantic, silly, and inappropriate ramifications to its usage, and use those to as an excuse to ignore the overall point: The LI grind has gotten worse (ie., more egregious, steeper, and "reset" more often) not better, under Imbuement. In the end, these are all just pixels on a screen that we spend our time maxing out and it matters not one whit by the time we get them there whether we had to destroy them and start all over or we merely "added" On to existing ones. . . we still end up with the same pixels on our screen representing a "maxed out" LI under that can go no further. And in the end, we're putting far more time into the post-imbuement LI grind than we ever had to do under the pre-imbuement grind. It's just disguised better.

But, again, I don't hold this against Turbine. They had to figure out a way to monetize the system in the era of no level-cap increases after all. Under their adopted business model, they pretty much have to do this. And it's our fault for making the business model so lucrative (being willing to indulge a business model that allows us to buy our way through/around game systems we don't enjoy incentivizes the creation/perpetuation of game systems we don't enjoy).

That having been said, they probably are adding too many tiers at once.

Lovely, so take issue with the word "need" and pretend to make a counter-argument only to come back and agree with me overall. *sigh*

[Warmutkan]

Guardian

Guardian's Pledge Cooldown now gives Retaliation Damage after Tier 35.

Guardian's Pledge Magnitude now gives Shield Swipe Damage after tier 35.

These don't make sense to me. If you don't want the legacy to grow past 35 as-is, why introduce a DPS buff to a mostly tanking skill? Why not introduce a buff >35 that's related to the original legacy we picked upon imbuement?

Perhaps others see this differently, but as a tanking guardian, I see no reason to invest in the new tiers for these legacies.

[Gardhik]

Well, I just imbued my belt as I see no reason to invest in ILI for tanking purpose.

That means I will have less work to do ^^

[Aleziana]

can anybody help me? i m geting this ... they didn't open the server?

[Feandir_86]

Bows for beornings and not for burglars? Been wanting them for so long

[Coeprandua]

Bows for beornings and not for burglars? Been wanting them for so long

For bear it will actually serve a purpose. They're adding a new trait to yellow line called Scented Arrows, iirc. It's a stacking HoT that bolsters the morale of allies standing around the target the arrows are hitting.

[Bucataru]

Why would you do this? The Morgul Crests should drop only from T2C chests in Osgiliath instances, not from these Roving Threats (while not always a faceroll, are significantly easier that even the 3man Osgiliath instances, when not exploited).

Morgul Crests already drop on live servers from RT. Did Mirkwood, Esteldin and Tinnudir Roving threads on tuesday, and one player in the group did get one morgul crest - so it was for us about 1% chance.

Related to U17 - no new raid. I find it disappointing.
And 9 new levels on legendary items, without any upgrade on creep-side... My hunter will like it, my warg will definitely hate it.

[Murtanion]

These don't make sense to me. If you don't want the legacy to grow past 35 as-is, why introduce a DPS buff to a mostly tanking skill? Why not introduce a buff >35 that's related to the original legacy we picked upon imbuement?

Perhaps others see this differently, but as a tanking guardian, I see no reason to invest in the new tiers for these legacies.

I would, over time, definitely invest in these legacies. While they aren't strictly tied to the legacies before them they are marginally useful. Extra damage when tanking = more threat. Though I think perhaps retaliation damage is a bit underwhelming.

The issue I am having with these new legacies is adding bloat to the legacy/skill pool.

That and the fact that Turbine didn't even touch Warden legacies, or the class at all, other than adding a useless new shield.

[Lagadelphia]

Never understood why beornings need a bow, well I guess more stats is nice but bow is totally useless.

It brings beornings inline with other classes in having something to slot. Rks have chisels and riffliers, minis instruments, bugs signal, Capps banners, etc. Why bows? Easier to wave a wand and say beornings can use bows which already exist than to create a beorning specific item then have to make crafting recipies, world drops, quest rewards etc for it.

[Banaticus]

Probably because halberds aren't usually wielded exclusively with one hand like swords are -- they're more of a two-handed polearm, except for Captains. Must be different animations.

[kickman77]

One question and one statement:

Question: Will there be a new Scroll of Empowerment introduced or will Anfalas Scrolls of Empowerment continue to work to increase legacies? I suspect Anfalas will still work since I can't quite get my head around how they'd suddenly require a newer type.

Statement: As predicted, those who thought imbuement would be the end to the LI grind were kidding themselves. You may not be destroying your LI (hooray!), but you're still going to suddenly need to grind out another 42 Scrolls of Empowerment and four star-lit crystals. That's more grinding than we had to do to replace an entire LI under the prior system. Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that they sell Scrolls of Empowerment and Star-lit Crystals in the Store?

In Turbine's defense: They had to find some way of continuing to generate revenue from LIs in an era of no level-cap increases. And at least we can grind out Scrolls of Empowerment a bit easier now (via Training Exercise instance, assuming it's still a valid means post-update). Still, I have a hard time believing the system would look like this or be incremented so rapidly under a subscription model (though the game might not still exist under a subscription model).

Yeah this update solidifes my fears of the imbuement system just being a flashy way to generate store sales, which is fine as the entire LI system has always been that. But to blatantly give your customers something with the words of :To lessen the LI Grind" and than make the grind much much more than it was is a slap in the face and aor a joke to those same customers.

Imbuement could have been much much more. Turbine, we should only have to use 2 or 3 scrolls of empowerment on each legacy with each update. 3 starlight crystals with each update. Any more is overkill and pushes people away

[Taldeen]

• Morgul Crest should not drop at level 50 T2 dungeons.... ( but they do )
• Stattomes up to 20? Please dont make this more Pay2Win then it already is.... Its just to signifikant in the endgame... (Well what endgame actually xD)
• up to 8-9 Tiers on legendary weapons? Thats WAY to high! Make it 3 or 4 at max...

Other then that i feel then concept of the patch is alright. But just 2 big battles and no dungeons or at least bugfixes to the current endgame dungeons? Thats kinda sad..

Edit: Do you guys have at least one Person in charge who play the game and thinks about balancing? I feel its just people who do not play making decisions on a gut feeling.

[CaerArianrhod]

Quick shot boost...again? Is Hunter now named Red Line Hunter? I find that extremely bad. All we ask for is a boost to blue and yellow.

Bah.

It's not a little oopsie. It's a big, bad oops.

I think you really need to revisit your skilltree panel and read everything carefully there and rethink your hunter's playstyle.

[peachykins]

Yeah this update solidifes my fears of the imbuement system just being a flashy way to generate store sales, which is fine as the entire LI system has always been that. But to blatantly give your customers something with the words of :To lessen the LI Grind" and than make the grind much much more than it was is a slap in the face and aor a joke to those same customers.

Imbuement could have been much much more. Turbine, we should only have to use 2 or 3 scrolls of empowerment on each legacy with each update. 3 starlight crystals with each update. Any more is overkill and pushes people away

This don't surprise me any, this is classic Turbine.

[Annaliel]

Quick shot boost...again? Is Hunter now named Red Line Hunter? I find that extremely bad. All we ask for is a boost to blue and yellow.

Bah.

It's not a little oopsie. It's a big, bad oops.

lol yellow is a laughably overpowered line with that stupid chain root and only thing it needs is being entirely removed from the game.
Same for blue's laughable 60% slow with 0s cd and usable on the move without movement restriction.
Things who can't even come melee, yeah sure they need a buff ./sarcasm

[Mar-Evayave]

Melee critical rating as minstrel? What is that good for? They have only one melee skill and are not considered to be melees...

I imagine it's because it's on an anthem legacy. Anthems are used to buff the whole group, not just the minstrel. It's not really any different than Anthem of War, buffing melee/ranged damage or +phys mastery. None of those are useful for a minstrel either.

That being said, I think the Major Ballad Healing is worthless, as someone else mentioned. Who heals with their major ballad? When I'm in resonance I might spam that to build to my coda, but I certainly don't use it for any valuable healing.

[Casilune]

Yes, and you (plural, since you said "us") are the ones who take that word, seize upon it, attach all sorts of pedantic, silly, and inappropriate ramifications to its usage, and use those to as an excuse to ignore the overall point: The LI grind has gotten worse (ie., more egregious, steeper, and "reset" more often) not better, under Imbuement. In the end, these are all just pixels on a screen that we spend our time maxing out and it matters not one whit by the time we get them there whether we had to destroy them and start all over or we merely "added" On to existing ones. . . we still end up with the same pixels on our screen representing a "maxed out" LI under that can go no further. And in the end, we're putting far more time into the post-imbuement LI grind than we ever had to do under the pre-imbuement grind. It's just disguised better.

But, again, I don't hold this against Turbine. They had to figure out a way to monetize the system in the era of no level-cap increases after all. Under their adopted business model, they pretty much have to do this. And it's our fault for making the business model so lucrative (being willing to indulge a business model that allows us to buy our way through/around game systems we don't enjoy incentivizes the creation/perpetuation of game systems we don't enjoy).


Lovely, so take issue with the word "need" and pretend to make a counter-argument only to come back and agree with me overall. *sigh*

Because I don't. The only part I concur with is putting them all at once. I saw nothing from you that suggested that you had no issue with splitting them up, only issue that you had to do it at all. Now if that WAS your point, then fine.

By the way...would it interest you to know that I have bought zero Empowerment or Delving scrolls from the store since Imbuement? Very P2W on my end, indeed.

[Castorix]

can anybody help me? i m geting this ... they didn't open the server?

If you type "unable to decrypt" LOTRO in Google, you will find many threads were some people resolved this bug (client_highres_aux_1.datx, ...)