FECHA DE LANZAMIENTO: 2 de MARZO

El mantenimiento del día 4 es movido al día 2 de marzo. Sera desde las 8 de la mañana hasta las 15 horas. (desde las 9 hasta las 4 de la tarde en la península ibérica).
Debajo de este post publicare las novedades OFICIALES (hace unos días puse las no oficiales) y la información que han sacado estos dias sobre como sera el parche. NO HAY MAPA NUEVO. Sino que han metido algo para que visitemos las regiones anteriores para hacer nuevas quest. Dicho de otro modo. Hay mas quest en las regiones ya visitadas y quieren que nos dediquemos estos meses a eso.

Maintenance that was scheduled to take place on Thursday 4th March has now been moved forwards to Tuesday 2nd March due to a change in the schedule. Maintenance will take place between 08:00 and 15:00 (GMT) – so please do not try to log into the game during this time.

During this downtime Volume III Book 1: Oath of the Rangers will be applied to the servers. For more detailed information about what new content is included in Book 1, view the official patch notes or check out our Book 1 overview page.

There will be no scheduled maintenance on Thursday 4th March.

Developer Diary: Volume 1 Revised Edition - Allan 'Orion' Maki (Content Designer)

Foreword
When we set fingers to keyboards several years ago and started working on The Lord of the Rings™ Online™, there was a single mandate: create a story that can stand alongside one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century. From that mandate Volume I: The Shadows of Angmar™ was born with a story that takes players on an incredible journey from their humble beginnings all the way to the apex of black iron castle of Carn Dûm, where they fight against a most unlikely character. This is the player’s story: the story of how a small group, or even one person, can make a difference in times that grow dimmer, darker, and bereft of Hope. Until now, the Epic storyline has been just outside the reach of some players, but that will change with the launch of Volume III, Book 1: Oath of the Rangers.

A Little Inspiration
It was some time after the revision to the Lone-lands that I realized our epic story required better accessibility for some of our players. I wrote a little blog about this on my my.lotro.com page that explained the problems I thought needed addressing. Looking back, that first effort was unrefined and would utilize tech that was functional but would require a fair deal of support to make it work. The recipe needed to be revised, and through the emergent dialogue of that first post a refinement of the idea was born and set for implementation.


The concept of inspiration comes from tales of people in extraordinary situations using superhuman qualities. The Lord of the Rings is rife with examples of this; Aragorn’s stand against the Nazgûl, Boromir’s stand against the Uruk-hai, Sam’s resolve both against Shelob and in Cirith Ungol. These examples provide the baseline for a new concept, Inspired Greatness, and what it will mean to players of The Lord of the Rings Online, at least through Volume 1 of the Epic story.

So…What is Inspired Greatness?
Inspired Greatness is a set of buffs that reduce all incoming damage, improve all outgoing damage, boost in-combat and out-of-combat morale and power regeneration and provide increases to morale and power. Through Inspired Greatness, players can experience being a truly elite Hero, which will enable them to complete group-based content within the Volume I Epic storyline even while playing solo.

A Tenuous Balance
The dialogue with LOTRO players from that first blog posting showed that changes meant to improve accessibility for the lower level populace created a tenuous balancing act. On one hand, many players seem to genuinely enjoy the fact that they can play through quests and not be blocked by fellowship requirements. On the other hand, the reduction of fellowship quests in the game is perceived as a reduction in the game’s challenge. Both stances have merit in my eyes, and as a designer I need to do what I can to support both avenues of game play and advancement.

Revising Volume 1 was an exercise in trying to satisfy as many play styles as possible. To that end, I first needed to revise Inspired Greatness. The concept of Inspired Greatness was introduced in Volume I, Book 2 at the end of Weathertop and the Passage to Agamaur quests. This implementation allowed players to choose between a solo version of each quest instance or the full fellowship version. This was not without some consequences; completing the solo version locks players from accessing the fellowship version of the instance at Reflecting Pools, and anyone who completed the fellowship version can never do the solo version, so that needed to be fixed. In addition, the feedback was clearly split on whether or not the entirety of the Epic Story should be solo. So the revision of Inspired Greatness was underway.

Getting Inspired on Landscape
Landscape quests pose an interesting set of problems. Considering the strength of the buff, the most critical component of Inspiration on landscape is making certain the buff cannot leave the area where the player needs the assistance. To enable this, we needed to make some changes to quests and add a new set of interactions to allow for the buff to apply to players only when engaged upon the appropriate quests.

In several quests heading into public areas of the world players will now receive an elf-stone. This stone can only be used at specific locations and provides players with an effect called Inspiration. This effect gates access to the Inspired Greatness enhancements found near epic questing areas that focus on group content. The interaction at these locations will check your current fellowship status (are you in a fellowship?) and the number of fellows currently at the location and adjust the buff accordingly.


Getting Inspired in Instances
Instances were a lot simpler to solve, primarily because they are controlled spaces that are much easier to maintain and balance. There was, of course, an awful lot of revision that needed to happen! The most egregious of these instances focused on escorting an NPC. The escorted had a tough time surviving as players moved through these instances, so many of them needed to be made a little tougher.

The Good, The Bad and The Unexpected

• Epic story content is now accessible to all players.
  
• We have kept the Epic story group-based content intact for those who want the group experiences.
  
• Not all landscape areas are 100% safe for solo travellers!
  
• The landscape version of Inspired Greatness is time-restricted.
  
• The balance of the buffs is still in flux.
  
• Rewards for the quests have not yet been updated.
  
• The Epic story follows a more consistent level spread.
  
• Through Inspired Greatness, we have found a solution that addresses the concerns of solo and group players.
  
• Reflecting Pool replays of Epic instances are affected by Inspired Greatness, making Marks of Triumph more accessible to solo players.

Conclusion
The Inspired Greatness system still needs a little adjustment; some aspects are a bit overpowered and some are a little underwhelming. Over the course of the coming months we will continue to adjust this and find the balance that provides the best possible experience in the future. We hope you’ll find that this is a great start!

Highlights

Volume III has arrived!
Volume III: Allies of the King will bring us to new lands, new threats, and new adventures, and as we explore this new chapter, we’ll find the tide of destiny pushing us ever onwards into danger. Read the Developer Diary to learn more about the first book in our new Epic Story!

General Note for all Volume 1 Changes
We have made massive changes to the first Volume of The Lord of the Rings Online Epic Story. The changes are limited to all content related to The Shadows of Angmar and only The Shadows of Angmar. Learn more about the changes in Allan “Orion” Maki’s Developer Diary.

Duo mode is now available for Skirmishes!
Most Skirmishes will now give you an option to play as a 2 person group.

Level 64 Skill Upgrades!
Captain
Watchful Shield Brother – Adds a boost to power and morale regeneration to the toggle effect.

Champion
True Heroics - Skill applies an additional buff based on the currently active stance.

Hunter
Beneath Care - Skill restores Power over Time and has no power cost in addition to reducing perceived threat.

Lore-master
Continual Air-lore - Changes the skill to a toggle ability with a power upkeep cost.

Minstrel
Lyric of the Hammerhand - Adds immunity from induction knockback.

Rune-keeper
Armaments of X - Skill adds an additional bonus to Tactical and Ranged damage

Warden
Unerring Strike – Spear-5 skill, is less likely to be Block/Parried/Evaded and applies a Damage over time effect.

Burglar
Mischievous Delight - Has a chance to apply a Power over time buff in addition to its Heal over time buff.

Guardian
Warrior's Fortitude - Skill applies an additional buff based on the stance.

Full descriptions of the new level 64 skill upgrades can be found in the Developer Diary. (en la web tb lo publicamos en su dia)

Of Special Note

New travel routes in The Misty Mountains and North Downs!
Stable Masters have been added to the following Areas.

The North Downs
Meluinen

The Misty Mountains
Glóin's Camp
Hrimbarg

Hounding Fear has been removed from Landscape and Skirmishes.
If you are eligible for the Dusky Nimblefoot Goat, you will receive another one in your inventory. If you have converted it to a skill already, all you'll be able to do with it is destroy it. This is to help players who didn't receive their goat because their inventory was too full.
Characters will be refunded all legacy points on all legendary items when logging in after updating to Volume III: Book 1.
Inspired greatness for solo players has been reduced slightly. The effect was overpowered in the initial implementation.

It's the little things that count
Players may now add notes to their friend and ignore lists!
Quests are being added to the Spring Festival to direct players to ALL festival events, including the Horse Races, the Hedge Maze, the Feast of the Greenfields, and the new event.
Based on player feedback, you will now get credit for passing the gate for going UNDER the bridge on the racetrack.
Reduced the chance to receive the Blueberry Tart recipe from the spring giftboxes.

Full Release Notes

General Gameplay
If the client is closed during the playback of a quest completion video, the quest rewards will now be correctly applied.
Addressed a number of unintended gameplay issues.
Fixed a number of typos.

Skills/Classes
Minstrel
Corrected the amount of morale healed by Minstrel's healing skills after the effect from War-speech has been turned off, including the 10 second cooldown period.

Champion
The Champion skill Clobber is now unable to be blocked or parried.
Slotting the Stalwart Blade trait will now display the fact that Blade-wall will now generate 1 Fervour pip.
Controlled Burn with the Controlled Fury trait will now correctly activate Ardent Flurry and Glorious Exchange.
Ardour and Glory gain an increase to in combat power regeneration.
Added Sudden Defence to the list of skills that Invincible resets.
Removed Controlled Burn from the list of skills that are reset by Invincible. This was a correction of the description only.
Champion skill Hedge is now an immediate skill.
Fight On, Merciful Strike, Adamant and Invincible are now fast skills.
Controlled Burn will now allow Ardent Flurry and Glorious Exchange to stay in effect while the Champion is in combat even after Controlled Burn is over.

Guardian
Guardian's Threat Block and Parry rating legacy now affect Parry rating as well as Block rating.

Captain
Captain skills requiring an On Defeat event will now generate an On Defeat event themselves if they kill a monster.
Captain heralds will no longer gain 100% absorption from Shield of the Dúnedain.
The Last Stand effect now applies at the earliest possible moment in the skill execution.

Burglar
Dust in the Eyes will no longer cause a trick removal skill to fail when the trick removal skill is queued immediately after Dust in the Eyes.

Lore-master
Fixed a typo in the Lore-master Deed “Master of Beasts” it now tells you to use “Sign of the Wild: Protection”. Thanks for the bug, Meeka!
Fixed a typo in the Lore-master's skill “Cracked Earth”, thanks Mizal!
The Lore-master's skill “Air-lore” no longer breaks Stealth on the target.

Rune-keeper
The legendary point cost for the Rune-keeper’s Healing legacy has been corrected.
Smoothed out the legendary point cost for the Rune-keeper's Prelude to Hope pulse count legacy.

Warden
Warden gambit Combination Strike no longer requires a shield equipped to execute.
Fixed an issue where Wardens could lose gambits if you initiate combat with a ranged auto-attack and then use an ability that grants gambits.

Monster Play

General Monster Play
Conjunction stuns will now have diminishing returns in PvMP. Please note that conjunction stuns are on a separate application counter than other crowd control effects in PvMP (thus will not affect duration of the conjunction stun). The diminishing returns application counter for conjunction stuns is not permanent - if you are not hit with a conjunction stun for 45 seconds, the application counter will reset.
Conjunction Stuns

• First Application = 100% of the conjunction stun's duration
  
• Second Application = 75% of the conjunction stun's duration
  
• Third Application = 50% of the conjunction stun's duration
  
• Fourth Application = 25% of the conjunction stun's duration
  
• Fifth - Ninth Application = 1 second conjunction stun duration
  
• After the Tenth Application, the conjunction stun will no longer affect the target.

*This change only applies to stuns which can trigger fellowship or warband maneuvers.

An issue that allowed certain Free Player skills to function in unintended ways has been addressed.
Quest : Leader of the Rat-Folk - The cursed leader of the Hobbit town somehow has tricked us so that we could not bring ourselves to attack him. We once again can do so, and will have our revenge!
Reduced the number of Brilliant Stones required for the level 65 PvMP armour sets.
Damage passives and corruptions will now correctly affect heal skills of Monster Players.
Base power and power regeneration have been increased for Troll session play.
Decreased the Monster Play lockout timer from 2 hours to 1 hour.
Free Player crowd control potions (Salt of Hartshorn, Solvent of Release, Vial of Aromatic Spirits, Vial of Unbinding, and Phial of Conhuith) have had their item cooldowns reduced to 2 minutes.
Free Player and Monster Player crowd control potions have had their vendor costs reduced. Please note that this does not affect barter versions of these potions.
Base damage and health have been increased for Ranger session play. Both Trolls and Rangers will also have 180 seconds of conjunction immunity protection after being hit with a fellowship or warband manuever.
Get a Grip will no longer pop fellowship members from stealth.

Creeps
Many racial traits for Monster Players have undergone changes, please read the list below for the full details: Orc
Rage of the Misbegotten: Added a tactical crit rating bonus and changed the morale description of this skill to show a % value.
Warrior Against the Deep: Increased the Ancient Dwarf Defense rating.
Undying Rage: This skill will now also provide a tactical damage bonus, induction duration reduction, melee/ranged/tactical defense ratings, and a movement speed increase while the Orc is under the effect of the skill.
Flayer of Flesh: Added a tactical crit rating and tactical offense rating bonus. The melee damage bonus has been converted to a melee offense rating bonus.
Tireless Warrior: Increased the in-combat morale and power regen bonuses.

Uruk
New Breed: Increased the amount of power bonus received.
Imposing Presence: Increased the amount of power bonus received when this skill's effect is applied.
Leader of the Orcs: The melee, ranged, and tactical damage bonuses have been converted to melee, ranged, and tactical offense ratings.
Tireless Warrior: Increased the in-combat morale and power regen bonuses.

Spider Weaver
Ancient as the Stars: The melee critical vulnerability bonus has been changed to melee critical defense rating.
Enemy of the First Children: Added a ranged offense rating bonus.
Drinker of Blood: Increased the in-combat morale and power regeneration bonuses.
The Weaver's Swift Weave trait will no longer affect non-web attack skills.

Warg Stalker
Eyes of Unnerving: This trait/skill has been changed to Howl of Unnerving. This skill will now perform a 10 radius, area effect, max 4 targets, dread debuff around the Warg. As a result of this change, this skill can now be used from stealth (upon skill use, the Warg's stealth will be broken).
Foe of Light: Increased the Light Defense rating.
Pack Alpha: The melee damage bonus has been converted to a melee offense rating.
The Warg's Sense Prey skill will no longer activate cooldowns on potions.

Skirmishes

For more information on changes to the Skirmish system please see the Developer Diary.
Skirmish Mark rates have increased for group sizes and tier: (Old value -> New Value)

• Small fellowship: +17.5% -> +20%
  
• Fellowship: +30% -> +50%
  
• Raid: +60% -> +90%
  
• Tier 2: 7.5% -> 10% (special mark rates also increased)
  
• Tier3: 15% -> 25% (special mark rates also increased)

The following Skirmishes now have chests instead of boss loot drops:

• Trouble in Tuckborough
  
• Thievery and Mischief
  
• Assault on the Ringwraith's Lair

Costs have been decreased on the following Skirmish Camp Vendors:

• Light Armour
  
• Medium Armour
  
• Heavy Armour
  
• Weapons
  
• Jewellery and Cloaks.

The Drop rates for the war orders quest have been increased. This caused the quest to be versioned. You will need to re-acquire it if you had it in your journal underway but not completed it.
In bestowing the War Orders quest the Skirmish Captains will now mention the target list.
Drop rates for all special marks have significantly improved in Tier 2 and 3 Skirmishes.
All Bounty items have had their sell value increased. All Lieutenant drop rates have increased significantly. Bosses now drop less gold. The net result is a similar amount of gold acquired per Skirmish, with less reward tied specifically to killing the boss. In addition, you get to loot more sparkling Lieutenant bodies!
Encounter drop rates for “Campaign” marks has been increased.
Skirmish Camps now have a “Skirmish Exchange” vendor. These vendors have taken over for the Curiosities vendors for upgrading and downgrading marks, as well as exchanging them for Skirmish Marks.
The “Veteran's Fourth Mark” and “Fourth Mark” no longer are found in Skirmishes, and no items require them as price. The increased drop rates of marks in Tier 2 /3 makes these special, clunky marks not needed. All items that cost Fourth marks will now cost Third marks. The Exchange vendor will give you 2 (two!) Third marks for each Fourth you turn in!
There are 3 new level 65+ armour sets available at the light, medium and heavy armour vendors.
Skirmish player cosmetic items are now Bind on Equip. Items already purchased will stay bound to the character that purchased them.
The Herbalist Skirmish Soldier will now use his basic heal skill occasionally while outside combat.
Top tier potions have had their costs slightly reduced.
Moor cowbell is now available at the Curiosities vendor. (Because we know you got a Feva’!)
Soldiers have had their resistance rates slightly increased.
Soldier healing skills will no longer be decreased by armour.
Soldier healing amounts now have variance, like player heal skills.
The “Healing Done” trait now functions and can now be equipped by Bannerguards and Protectors.
Banner of Protection now displays how much it is increasing resistances by.
Soldier trait granting scrolls now say what “Role” can use the trait.
The Instruction scrolls awarded at the end of the Skirmish tutorials have had the skills they grant modified to no longer overlap with purchasable Skill traits.
Herbalists Role trait now displays bonuses to the Herbalists healing aura as well as his basic heal skill (the heal they spam).
The Emissary of Shadows Slayer (Advanced) deed now properly awards 500 Skirmish Marks.
Bounty items now use the grey icon back to indicate they are only for selling.
All Skirmish marks have additional information in their descriptions.
Hobbit-lass “Blue Fancy Outfit” is now blue.
Renamed inappropriately named NPCs in the Eregion Skirmish camp.
Corrected a number of typos in the Skirmish Mark descriptions.
In the Skirmish Protectors of Thangúlhad, the fire zones marking where the catapults and ballista fire will strike is more apparent.
If a banner is usable, it will remain flashing no matter how far away you go.
The “A Lieutenant has arrived!” message will now also be sent to the chat log.
The system will now remember the level you were when entering a skirmish and use this level for award calculations and determining whether the skirmish is “underlevel”.
All Skirmish Bosses now use the Skull iconic in the Vital UI to hide their level.
All Skirmish Bosses will no longer have decreased movement speed at low health levels.
6-man and 12-man Skirmish Bosses can no longer be slowed.
Siege of Gondamon: The boss Ingithor will now engage in melee combat more often.
The Lieutenant "Stormcrow" is now known as "Blood-rook" and has had a typo corrected in its Buff tooltip.

Tutorial - Offensive:
The Deed for the Encounter now matches the text within the space.

Tutorial - Defensive:
Quest will now advance correctly even if you have selected a race for your warrior.
Quest will now advance correctly if you summon the warrior early.

Defence of The Prancing Pony:
Willie Hawthorn now has skirmish loot.
The bread now glows when it appears.
The door will now glow when it is useable.
Old Hunter has had his health slightly reduced.
Fixed the names of the flags so they flip in order.

Siege of Gondamon:
The flag descriptions now identify the proper gates.
Hendrovals have arrived to aid the Dourhands.
Encounter Flag Poles can now be used out of combat.
The Encounter Flag droppers now have billboards for when they appear.
The Encounter Flag droppers now drop a chest containing the flag. They will always do this, even if the NPC kills them before you tap them.
Two Encounters should now always appear.
Ghashnakh has taken up a position closer to the siege tower.
Trash Dourhands will now count towards Enmity of the Dourhands.

Thievery and Mischief:
Heathstraw will now show a quest ring to exit the Skirmish.
The Encounter monster Tukar will now behave correctly.
The defeated Bree townspeople no longer have physics.
If your client crashes during the boss fight Mat Heathertoes is no longer back standing.
Lieutenants will now wander within a small range, preventing them from standing atop each other during 12-manSkirmishes if two spawn at the same location.
Fixed a rare where a phantom encounter would be chosen. It does not exist.
Lordfisher's billboard now states north-east.
Lordfisher has had a small health reduction.
Padfoot will now only trigger after successfully defeating a counterattack.
Ned Ashleaf's billboard no longer mentions behind you.
Snagburz’s billboard now mentions the correct direction.

Trouble in Tuckborough:
Fixed a few encounter billboards which were not displaying correctly.
Fithrokh now drops appropriate loot.
Oldroot’s sickle-flies have seen a drop in difficulty.
Oldroot has had his health slightly reduced.
Big Fright has had his health slightly reduced.

Stand at Amon Sul:
Small Fellowships will now have two torches at the center fire.
The Fire buffs and debuffs no longer affect the Lieutenants.
The darkness debuff now affects Candaith.
Any remaining Athelas plants will now disappear after the center fire is used.
Candaith will now aggro mobs on the other side of the center fire.
Defeating the Cargûl quickly will no longer break the skirmish.
All encounters should now function correctly. Some were not appearing.
Lieutenants:

• Golnauk now has the correct death billboard.
  
• Norgol has had his damage reflect removed on solo.
  
• Bloodwing has been increased in size and its appearance updated.
  
• Gugaw no longer has loot.
  
• Gwandir has an updated appearance.
  
• Thadaen:
  
  • Is now scaled appropriately.
    
  • No longer has trash loot.
    
  • Now has a bow.
    
  • Has a new appearance.
  
  
• Urgal:
  
  • No longer charges the center fire.
    
  • Has had his damage reflect and Aura removed on solo.
    
  • No longer has trash loot.
  
  
• Gwathrengor :
  
  • Appears earlier
    
  • The cairn is selectable now
    
  • The cairn is no longer named arrow
    
  • Triggers and enters combat after the cairn is used
  
  
• Urkflagit:
  
  • Billboard text now indicates how to interact with him
    
  • He's sleeping now
    
  • Knockback removed

Ford of Bruinen:
You can no longer advance Volume I: Book 4, Chapter 3 within this skirmish
Giants have joined the cause of The Enemy.
Added cheering Orcs behind the enemy's line.
Archers will no longer fire if they have died.
The Archers’ fire will no longer hit Elladan and Elrohir.
Added Billboard text for when Kolluth appears.
Kolluth will now drop a chest containing the flag.
The billboard for the arrows has more info about the basket.
Added Billboard text for when Morghash appears.
Morghas will now drop a chest that contains the powder keg.
Durkuf no longer drops cash.

Strike Against Dannenglor:
Boss now has a chest
Exploding Limrafn Remnants in the boss fight will disappear after 30 seconds
The messaging when clearing the East Terrace will correctly reference the East Terrace and now the Uper Courtyard.
The sorcerer's death opens the door, not flipping the CP.
Torches now glow when useable.
The Horn now glows when useable.
The Horn now has an induction.
Fikluk has had a small health reduction.
Spider Eggs now glow when useable.
Seregruin has had a small health reduction.
Breaching the Necromancer's Gate:
Boss now has a chest.
First Counterattack at Sorcerer's Ascent is delayed slightly.
Aurochs meat has a mouse-over icon.
Aurochs meat glows.
Auroch meat platform glows when useable.
All encounter defeat billboards now use the monsters name.
Lanterns glow when usable.
All counterattacks will have messages indicated when they have been defeated and it is safe to press on.
All encounter mobs in solo Skirmishes should now drop appropriate loot.
All encounter mobs will now behave as intended.

Protectors of Thangúlhad:
6-man: The North-west catapult location works now
Encounters involving ballista no longer trigger messages after the target walks off
Ruithroval's aura has been removed, he will no longer aggro Rodelleth

Assault on the Ringwraiths' Lair:
Fixed a couple of typos.

Battle in the Tower:
The Encounter to use the torches will have them always be usable.

Raids & Instances
Quest: Tower of Death and Rot now appears properly on the map when you are tracking it.
Minor reset issues with the 'airlock' in the Dol Guldur Arena have been addressed.

Barad Guldur
Icons for the Bard and Vendor have been removed; the npc's will still arrive after Durchest has been defeated though.
The yellow corruption cycle for the Lieutenant will now correctly inflate the power cost of players. Other adjustments have been made to the corruption cycles.
The Lieutenant of Dol Guldur will now randomly select targets to affect with his Seed of Dissent and Terror skills.

Waterwheels
Fixed issue with reset on final boss.
The Challenge Quest to Kill Caeryg and Caerlung will now complete properly.

Fil Ghashan
The Orcs in the mess hall would never play dead. They also now realize that none of the other Orcs would either. So any Orc playing dead must not be an Orc! Kill it!

Sammath Gûl
Lightning now electrifies gates. Be careful where you try to park yourself
The Black Uruks in the first room have gotten wise to your tricksey ways, precious.

Garth Agarwen:
Fortress:

• Edan and Edsyld:
  
• In the final phase of the fight they will only use melee skills.
  
• Naruhel:
  
• The Red Maid will reset if the party wipes.
  
• Dunlang:
  
• Dunlang will properly reset if you wipe before he engages.

Auctions
Auction Hall searches utilizing the “Stat” drop-down now return more appropriate results.

User Interface
The default setting for the leftmost toolbar button has been changed from “System” which showed the system menu to “Help” which shows the in-game Help panel. To change it back to “System” or to anything else, use the “Customize Toolbar Slots” button just to the left of the Auto-attack button or go to Options / UI Settings.
Help panel now comes up in front of other windows.
Select nearest NPC now factors in vertical distance more accurately.
The various 'defeated' effect icons (the ones that give you dread) now appear in the debuff row.
Bankers now have an action picker for Vault and Shared Storage to resolve lag issues with opening them both at once.
Shared Storage: The function of the filter has always been to hide bound items belonging to your other characters but the wording wasn't very clear. The new description should help clarify things.
Tooltips will now function properly for effects on the second row of the pet and skirmish soldier UIs.

Quest Guide
The quest tracker would not show all 5 tracked quests properly if said quests had a lot of objectives listed. To fix this, we have made it so quests and deeds with excessively large objective lists will be cleanly truncated by means of an ellipses marker based on how many quests you are currently tracking. If a quest/deed you are tracking is truncated in such a fashion, you can either open it in the quest/deed log to see the full objective list or remove other quests/deeds from the tracker to allow the one you are concerned with to display more objectives in the tracker. For example, when you are tracking 5 quests or deeds, each will display up to 4 objectives, while tracking a single quest or deed will allow you to display up to 20 objectives for it.
Quest Guide will now refresh the radar arrow indicator properly if you toggle your entire UI off and on again.

Chat/Social/Kinship
Context sensitive menus that appear when right-clicking your kinship members through the Kinship panel have been cleaned up and improved.
Clicking on the scrollbar in the mail recipient auto-complete dropdown no longer closes it.

Housing
The Housing Trophy “Heads of the Globsnaga Elders” is now a Small Furniture item instead of a Wall item.
The missing Gazebo in the Breeland house area has been reconstructed. In fact, it has even become a popular hangout for the local populace at night.
Ominous Pool has been scaled down to correctly fit within the bounds of a large yard slot. Garden-Dwarf statue and Hobbit Hedge has been scaled up.

Fishing
We have made some changes to the fishing advancement system. In general, fishing skill advancement should be a bit more consistent and quicker, particularly at higher levels of skill.
Regional fishing treasure profiles have been significantly altered. Many types of fish can only be caught in certain regions now, making it easier overall to catch the specific fish you are looking for. Some types of rare fish related to barter rewards and/or deeds have been moved to new regions entirely, and may not be available in regions they could previously be caught in.
Vendors do not sell bait items anymore, as these items are no longer used to enhance the chances of catching a fish.

Crafting
For an in-depth look at the improvements to crafting, please see the Developer Diary

General
The crafting panel now correctly displays cooldowns for recipes for which the player has no ingredients
Added non-superior versions of the crafting facilities to the crafting hall in Ost Galadh.
Shire Apples are no longer sold by Novice Cooks or Supplier vendors. Seek out Artisan Farmers or head to the Auction Hall for fresh Shire Apples!
Corrected several errors in the vocation crafting guides.

Farming
Get your Shire apples, golden Shire taters, and green peas fresh from the farm! New farming crop recipes have been added for Artisan, Master, and Superior Farmers. These recipes are automatically granted to Farmers at the appropriate tiers of their profession.

Cooking
New Trail Food recipes for cooks of all skill levels have arrived! These new recipes allow cooks to make new foods that will temporarily increase the user's Fate or Will. These recipes are automatically granted to Cooks at the appropriate tiers of their profession.
New campfire kit recipes can be purchased from Novice Cook & Expert Cook NPCs.
All trail food recipes that use fish as required ingredients have been updated. Formerly, the products of these recipes were a type of trail food that would temporarily increase willpower. The new products of these recipes will now temporarily increase both vitality and willpower. Please note that any previously existing fish trail foods will remain unchanged, and only new foods produced by these recipes will have the updated effects.
New Trail Food recipes for Superior Cooks can be found on Maedhrusc, the Acquaintance of the Malledhrim Crafting Vendor in Mirkwood.
All cooked foods now bestow morale-over-time, power-over-time, and out-of-combat morale and power regeneration effects. In general, all cooked foods will fall under one of the following three categories:

• Cooked Food Type A: High out-of-combat morale and power regeneration; Low morale-over-time & power-over-time effects.
  
• Cooked Food Type B: Medium out-of-combat morale and power regeneration; Medium morale-over-time & power-over-time effects.
  
• Cooked Food Type C: Low out-of-combat morale and power regeneration; High morale-over-time & power-over-time effects.

Weaponsmith
New Superior Hunter trap recipes can be purchased from Expert Weaponsmith & Hunter trainer NPCs.
New Superior Burglar trick recipes can be purchased from Expert Weaponsmith & Burglar trainer NPCs.

Jeweller
Major updates for the Jeweller profession, including:
New icons for all newly-crafted jewellery items (rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets).
New output items with updated stats for virtually all jewellery recipes (all existing crafted jewellery pieces have not been changed).
Multi-output recipes for every tier of the Jeweller profession.

The following Jeweller recipes are no longer automatically granted and must be purchased from Novice and Expert Jeweller NPCs:
Glittering Copper Ring
Glittering Copper Necklace
Glittering Silver Ring
Glittering Silver Necklace
Glittering Gold Ring
Glittering Gold Necklace
Glittering Platinum Ring
Glittering White Gold Necklace
Glittering Ancient Silver Ring
Glittering Ancient Silver Necklace

Adjusted the stats on the Fighter's / Warrior's Greenwood Bracelets, and adjusted the stats on the Philosopher's / Sage's Greenwood Bracelets.
Removed all “Ring of Tactics” recipe scrolls from loot and barter vendors, as these rings can now be made with various multi-output recipes. Existing “Ring of Tactics” recipe scrolls can still be used, however.
The Beryl Pendant and Royal Circlet recipes have been updated to use ingredients more appropriate for the Jeweller profession.

Woodworking
A new superior champion horn recipe can be purchased from Expert Woodworker & Champion trainer NPCs. Additionally, all champion horn recipes have been removed from treasure and are now available for purchase from Novice Woodworker, Expert Woodworker, and Champion trainer NPCs.

Items
(Cooked Food): The duration of the out-of-combat morale/power regeneration effect found on all normally crafted cooked foods has been increased from 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
(Superior Cooked Food): The duration of the out-of-combat morale/power regeneration effect found on all critically crafted cooked foods has been increased from 60 seconds to 10 minutes.
(Vendor Food): The duration of the out-of-combat morale/power regeneration effect found on all store-bought rations and many festival foods has been increased from 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
The “Pile of Fluffy Snow” consumable obtained in the Yule Festival will now make sound when the vortex is summoned.
The Runemaker’s Armour 5 set bonus has been changed to apply the armour bonus 25% of the time instead of only on a critical.
The Lucky Horseshoe will always give your +5 Fate when used.
The Battle & Warding Lore Scrolls are now usable while riding a mount. Other crafted scrolls of Lore also usable while riding.
Halberd of the Eglan-Guard is incorrectly spelled.
Updated some items to correctly use “Defence” rather than “Defense” in their name and description.
The Superior Anvil has been updated to repair items at the same cost as vendors. Both versions of the anvils have updated descriptions.
Fixed a typo in the description of the Warg's Fall crossbow.
Sturdy Woodcutter's Pack has an updated icon.
Token of Clear Vision now has its own cooldown timer and will no longer prevent you from using Edhelharn Tokens for 12 hours. The icon for the Token of Clear Visions has also been updated.

Legendary Items
Fixed many of the Legendary Item Legacy Rank costs not changing when upgrading tiers. For example there were legacies that did not change when you upgraded from Tier 4 to Tier 5 or Tier 5 to Tier 6. This change should fix many of those legacies so the costs adjust correctly.
The initial Item Advancement weapon received from the quest to enter Moria now has a maximum item level of 40.
The “Item has leveled” overlay in the Legendary Items Panel is properly cleared if a Legendary Item is deconstructed after it has leveled with the Legendary Items Panel closed.
If the Legendary Items panel is visible when a Legendary Item is reforged and a relic is unslotted, it is displayed right away as available.
Sealed and Fused Relics will now say in the description which Tier relic(s) you will receive when deconstructed.
Tactical damage rating is now visible on legendary items outside of the player's inventory (auction, mail, shared storage). Additionally, the base DPS on these items is now accurately represented.
Scrolls of Empowerment will now function on the initial Item Advancement weapon received from the quest to enter Moria.
The maximum experience given from a Third Age IA item deconstruction is now lower to match the amount of experience required to max the item's level.
The initial Item Advancement weapon gained from the quest to enter Moria for the Champion and Guardian will now pull their Legacies from Pool A.
The introductory level 51 legendary weapons for the Rune-keeper, Lore-master, and Minstrel will now have the appropriate tactical rank legacy instead of the melee DPS legacy.
The Lore-master legacy, “Increased Power from Share the Power”, has been renamed to “Share the Power Increase” to allow the legacy name to fit on item tooltips.
The cost of deconstructing low tier Relics has been decreased.

Loot
Players within an instance with a chest are now eligible for loot from it even when it's opened while they are not right next to it.
If a Master Looter is not in a fellowship when a chest or corpse is looted, the loot will now be opened up to the others.
Lizards in the Water Works now have a chance of dropping a Mithril Flake.
Monsters in the Sword-hall of Dol Guldur were dropping level 60 legendary weapons instead of level 65 versions. They will now drop the correct weapons.

Deeds/Traits/Reputation
For deeds which have daily maximums and thus reset at midnight, the progress bar now correctly turns back to blue after midnight the first time the relevant update event is received or when selecting the deed in the Deed Log.
Tham Mirdain deeds are now located in the Instances/Shadows of Angmar deed tab.
The Mirkwood Tower Climber title reward is now listed under the correct category.
Added a new slayer deed for the Hawk Eyed Harrier Lieutenant. They previously did not have a deed associated with them.
The Liberation from the Merciless Dungeons Deed now correctly displays the completion requirements.

Graphics/Animation/FX
Corrected the FX for Slayer type weapons.
All shrews and badgers will no longer spring to their feet after death for one more chance at biting you before taking that long trip into to the Uttermost West.
Fire Grims now have the correct fire UI portrait when fighting them. Also, corpse candles have been fixed as well.
Fixed a bug resulting in bow strings and/or arrows becoming stuck in the players hand with some ranged skills and auto-attacks.
Fixed various resource nodes that were buried in the landscape.

World/NPC/Monsters
Monster - Morthrang - This monster is now listed as an elite rare monster.
Mirkwood - Gulbrennil is now marked as a rare monster.
North Downs - Fornost - Guardsmen that are shooting target practice no longer have shields on their arms.
North Downs - Free Peoples' Camp - Dwarf Warrior is no longer smithing.
North-Downs - Merenas the Runekeeper voice over is more elfish.
Mobs are a little smarter and won't try to use skills on themselves that they can't use on themselves.
Removed ballerina shoes from bears so they'll no longer pirouette during roars. i.e.; when a bear begins performing its roar induction it will no longer swivel to face you, allowing you to run behind it to avoid the attack. (Thanks for the bug, Blak!)
Treasure chests and backpacks from lost adventurers have been uncovered in Mirkwood.

Town Services
Vendors will now be willing to sell you items that fit in your existing stacks, even when your inventory has no empty slots in it.
The Malledhrim Reward Vendors in Mirkwood now offer Steeped cure potions instead of the previous Infused potions.
All neighborhood healing vendors now carry level 75 healing potions/salves.
“Eogar, son of Hadorgar” will now buy items.
The Bree-land Outfitter (located in the Weapons & Armour Shop in Bree) now sells some additional footwear.

Travel/Maps/Radar/Mounts
Updated the Starter Bree-Steed to not be usable if you already have the Founder's Steed skills. The steeds are the same in both speed and looks. The Starter Bree-Steed is meant for non-Founder players.
You can now use Pipeweed while on a mount.
The Jewelled Bell goes Jingle Jangle...while you are on your mount.
Two -handed weapons now hide when riding a mount
Shields now are hidden if equipped while riding a mount.
The mount tokens, used to learn mount skills, are now usable while riding a steed.
Thorin's Gate - Mirkstones Map marker now appears in the correct location.
Removed the whooshing sound heard when you ride your mount into a deep body of water. This was confusing some players into thinking they had been teleported.

Names of the travel routes in Mirkwood have changed to reflect the camps they are going to rather than the area:
Mirk Eaves = "Echad Sirion"
Dourstocks = "The Haunted Inn"
Drownholt = "Estolad Mernael"
Emyn Lum = "Ost Galadh"
Ashenslades = "Mithechad"
Dol Guldur = "Helethir"
Gathburz = "Thangúlhad"

Stable Masters have been added to the following Areas.
The North Downs
Meluinen

The Misty Mountains
Glóin's Camp
Hrimbarg

Questing

General Questing
Quest rings that are shown above NPCs heads now prioritize better among themselves. For example, if an NPC can both teleport you and grant you a trivial quest, he will show the teleport ring now. Trivial Epic Quests show the same kind of quest rings as if they weren't trivial.
Most of the low level crafting quests are now hidden until you have chosen an appropriate vocation.
Intro quest 'Skimming the Surface' has been versioned and will have to be re-taken if you had it underway. This quest will now auto-cancel if you finish/skip the Archet raid. It can no longer be taken afterwards as it cannot be completed beyond that point.
Might of the Elves: Gildor speaks now!
The following quests are no longer marked as recommending a Small Fellowship:
Othrongroth
Marching Orders
Tide of Battle
The Battle for Annuminas

Eriador
Ivar's daily quest is now daily. You can now have 4 players within the barrows instance of Garth Agarwen.
Northern Bree-fields - Hungry Bears and Bear Cubs now count for Bears Craving Honey quest.
Failed Delivery - Icon for item was incorrect, and has been changed.
Archet - Old Bauman's Farm - Blackwolds surrounding the supervisor now match the appropriate quest level.
Ost Crithlanc - War and Famine - Items can now all be interacted with.
Hillmen of the north - Quest Guide now will show final objective in the quest.
Goblin Pack-Master - Quest guide should now be more accurate.
War and Famine - Weapon and Shield Racks - There is now animation and sound for these objects.
Furled Banners of the White Hand - You are now collecting unfurled banners, that you then furl and bring back to the quest giver.
Fornost: In Remmenaeg's fight, shadow hotspots were not spawning properly after the first one appeared. A new one will now appear every ~20 seconds as intended.
Fornost: 'Free the Fallen' now requires more shades to complete the quest, but the Fellowship shares quest advancement so it should be considerably easier to complete.
The Call of Precious Things, Part II - This quest and its main target are now level 25, up from 20. The quest has been adjusted to reflect the new difficulty level of the area it takes place in.
Unravelling the Thread: Torthann will recognize threats better
Salvage a Wheel: One of the wheels now looks cracked and damaged

Moria
Balin's Camp - The Stonecarver's Journal and the Shadow Map can no longer be collected if you have completed the quests associated with them, or they are underway. Please note, these items are no longer placed in your inventory. The two quests given by these items should now be versioned and the items are no longer useful, and can be destroyed.
The Great Hall of Durin - Puzzle of the Carvings - Quest items will now flash or sparkle.

Eregion
Unsure Steps- Billboard and Chat log text have been updated to reflect the quest more accurately.

Mirkwood
Gathburz - Sign of the Malledhrim - Players can now guard the fort when a flag is planted rather than just the flag itself on the platform.
Mithechad - Scout Anug-stazg -Only the appropriate NPCs should offer quest comments.
Scuttledells - Innocence in Peril - Location of the events now match the description in the quest.
Players will no longer be able to avoid aggro by stealthing or hiding behind objects in Glory of the Malledhrim.

Epic Story
Prologue
Quest: Man Epic Prologue: A Critical Strike: This quest is no longer marked as a Fellowship quest.

Volume I
Book 2, Chapter 7 - Radagast the Brown - will no longer be acquirable if you have done Chapter 8 of Book 2.
Book 3 Chapter 5: Gildor now has a voice over.
Book 8, Chapter 1: The Flickering Flame - Duvadain leading up Nan Gurth are no-longer two-pulls of signature monsters.
Book 10 Chapter 4: Quest rings now show for Clorhir and Gwaelband in the Quest Tracker.
Book 2 Chapter 3: Quest Tracker Rings now disappear once all weapons are collected.
Book 10 Chapter 2: Quest rings will now be firey to indicate they are part of the epic.

Volume II
Lowered the extremely high aggro radius for Olog-hai in the Volume II, Book 9, Chapter16 instance
Removed the 'dizzy' effect from the Volume II, Book 1, Chapter 8 instance.
Rumil's bow is no longer invisible.
Improved the pathing for pets in the Volume II, Book 9, Chapter 17 instance. Now pets can path past the smoke barriers!
Several NPCs didn't have their proper VO for the Volume II, Book 9, Foreword. Now they do!
Goldagnir wasn't taking his vitamins, but now he is, and is as tall as he should be.
Malendol has moved to a slightly different position for Volume II, Book 9, Chapter 6.
Gimli's morale bar will now appear alongside Legolas's during the Volume II, Book 7 Chapter 3 instance.
Revised some quest text in Volume II, Book 9, Chapter 9 to clarify that Blackvenom spiders will also be acceptable.

Misc
Fixed various stuck locations in Mirkwood and in Skirmishes.
Lorebook: Removed an unused monster.
When a player is resurrected or self revives in a location that they are not allowed to travel to, they will receive an alert indicating that they have been teleported to their home location.
Fixed an issue that would occasionally cause the client to crash when mousing over the Kinship house recall ability.
Chicken Play Deeds will again advance properly.
Session Play: The Shire quest objects related to the quest, The Early Bird, now glow correctly.