Here are the release notes for Update 42: Legacy of Morgoth, released on Wednesday, November 6th, 2024.
Unearth the Secrets of Shagâna!
Venture into the untamed wilds of Near Harad, where ancient secrets lurk beneath sun-scorched sands and treacherous marshlands! Feel the thrill of discovery as you race against time, deciphering cryptic maps and forging unlikely alliances. In this land of hidden perils and breathtaking vistas, your choices will shape the fate of Middle-earth.

With courage as your compass, pursue cunning traitors through scorching deserts, petrified forests, and wind-carved canyons. Stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the fierce and enigmatic peoples of this land to prevent against a coming darkness more terrifying than Mordor's shadow. For in these mysterious lands awaits something that few would have dreamed in their most terrible of nightmares: the Legacy of Morgoth.

• The Song of Waves and Wind continues! Speak to Jaith outside the Meeting-hall of Dar Laja in Umbar Baharbel to begin Chapter 10. This is a new on-ramp for the story; completion of the first nine chapters is recommended, but not required.
  
• Discover the striking lands of Near Harad! This is a challenge level 150 region, with 4 new zones packed with new quests, Deeds, Missions and Delvings for you to explore.​
  
• Experience more than 350 unique quests! Additionally, a new raid will debut at a later date that is associated with this content, and included with your purchase.

Ambarûl​

"Bordering Umbar along the ruins of Telperiën’s Wall, Ambarûl is one of the most fruitful lands in the region. Through it flows the Ikorbân River, bringing water and enriching the soil while also providing another rich food source, fish and shellfish from the rivers' brackish waters.​"

Because of this natural abundance, the people of Ambarûl have been crushed under the thumb of one Kingdom after another, as far back as they can remember. Until now. The Ambarûli have thrown off the shackles of the Great Southern Empire of Ordâkh, and continue the fight to regain control of their native lands."​

Khûd Zagin​

"Khûd Zagin, an arid and barren land south of Ambarûl, still fights for its freedom from the Ordâkhai. Though it is still technically within the realm of the Empire of Ordâkh, following the War of the Ring the Ordâkhai struggle to control the region, rife with ruffians, outlaws and rebels.​

Since the fall of Sauron, many Khûdi claim to have heard a mysterious voice in the desert winds. This spectral voice, chilling and filled with despair, that can be heard whispering indistinct words in the deep deserts late at night."​

Imhûlar​

"Imhûlar is a rugged, once beautiful land now struck by twin catastrophes of war and plague. Imhûlar is the site of the ruined citadel of Kûr Anzar, which long ago was the heart of the kingdom of Hamât. Kûr Anzar is under Barkhûshim control, but the would-be queen of Renewed Hamât, Mizâdi Shâra-ingari, has begun to threaten their rule. Elsewhere, Elves of the Oasis seek to turn back the Lâg Dávrit, the Pale Blight, which has ossified much of the Woods of Imhûlar, turning its trees bone-white, and killing or afflicting many of the plants and animals within."​

Urash Dâr​

"Across the Ikorbân River from the wooded hills of Imhûlar, the terrain grows more forbidding and wild: the interweaving web of rocky shelves, scree-skirted slopes, and twisting canyons of Urash Dâr. As empires have risen and fallen across Shagâna, the canyons have been home to all manner of desperate Men, from heretical cults and crazed recluses to thieving cutthroats and desperate insurgents."​

Instances: Ikorbân Valley​

Ashunûg, the Fane of the Accursed (3 Player)​: In the northern lands of Ambarûl you will enter the salt mine of Ashunûg. It is now overrun by a cult of Usan-kûni worshippers who call themselves the Anâkhi. You will push back the cultists and clear the mines of the powerful scorpions who reside there."​
Nirgambâr, the Restless Tomb (6 Player)​: "In a sheltered valley in the north of Khûd Zagin stand ancient, crumbling ziggurat-tombs of pale stone collectively known as Nirgambâr. Scouts have reported that one of the Zidemel's men, Andur, is said to have entered Nirgambâr drawn there by dark whispers. Locate and stop Andur before he can unleash what lurks in this cursed place."​
Tûl Zakana, the Well of Forgetting (6 Player)​: "Deep in the war-torn lands of Imhûlar, locals warn you of an Ordâkhai encampment, a trading post of sorts. There is a special well here, that locals call Tûl Zakana, the Well of Forgetting, whose waters will make you forget your troubles, and, if you drink enough, even who you are. But unless you are trading for this water, it's best to stay well clear of the Well, for many have wandered near it and simply vanished, never to be seen again."​
Instance tokens and rewards can be bartered at the fishing village in Bej Mâgha, outside the city of Umbar.
Elves have received a cosmetic update! We have been able to hit many aspects of elf player characters in The Lord of the Rings Online, giving them similar expanded options and looks that can be seen with the work done previously with the Race of Man. This work does not include an update to High Elves, which will happen at a later date. All Elven characters will automatically utilize their new looks when they log in, and many players will find their new look very similar to their old look. However, players who wish to further adjust the look of their characters can visit a Barber, located in many major settlements including Bree, Thorin's Hall, The Dale-Lands, Erebor, Minas Tirith, and Rivendell.

Three new reputations are now available; The Phetêkari of Umbar (Tale-wardens), The Ikorbani (People of Shagâna), and the Adúrhid. The main faction of the release is the Ikorbani, and most of the quests will help you gain your reputation with this group.​ The two secondary factions get a new "exploration" experience. Across the zones, you will find amphorae and other random scattered pots on the landscape. These act like special chests. Once you reach the correct faction tier with the Tale-wardens you can interact with the first of these amphorae. When you reach the next corresponding relationship tier, you can acquire a kit from Scholars or via barter to access the second style of ancient pottery to gain faction advancement and currency.​ For the Adúrhid, the focus is on the preservation of nature. Like the Tale-wardens, there are two types of items you can interact with on the landscape: seeds and seed clusters. There are keys allowing you to harvest the rewards from the seeds.​
​
VIP players who reach an Friend level with a faction will be granted a +10% bonus to Reputation experience earned by all other characters on the server until they reach the Friend level.​ If a character on a server reaches the Kindred level with a faction, all other characters on the player's account/server earn a +25% bonus until they reach the Kindred threshold with the same factions. Only the three new factions in the expansion pack have this functionality.​

Baubles are a mix of old and new curiosities that can be collected along your travels. These will be items that unlock a skill in a new tab within your collection panels, able to be used directly from there without needing to hold onto the item. Many older items such as costumes will be updated to work in this way to provide easier access to them at all times. Newer ones will be found from the new factions coming with Legacy of Morgoth.​

• Brawler
  
• Brawler 'Rush' trait tier 2 should now properly increase out of combat movement to 15%.
  
• Champion
  
• Punishing Strike's Bleed damage has been reduced by 10%.
  
• The debuff from Devastating Strike can now be overwritten, and no longer requires you to wait for it to expire before it can be reapplied.
  
• Unbreakable's tiered buff will now reapply at the highest tier if you are hit while at the highest tier of the buff.
  
• Hunter
  
• Hunter base Damage has been increased by 5%.
  
• Lore-master
  
• If combat ends while consuming a lightning charge, you should no longer lose your remaining lightning charges.
  
• Reduced Ring of Fire Damage by 10%.
  
• Ring of Fire now has an innate 10% Resistance penetration in PvP and 30% in PvE since it does not benefit from players' finesse.
  
• Damage over Time from Burning Embers has been reduced slightly:
  
• Reduced Searing Embers Damage by 10%.
  
• Reduced Burning Embers (second tier) Damage by 5%.
  
• Smouldering Embers Damage is unchanged.
  
• Pet command skills can now correctly be used on Monster Players.
  
• Pets now have an innate threat modifier that matches non-tank player specializations.
  
• Pet commands are now only usable when you have an active companion summoned. This is intended to prevent you from wasting these skills if your pet is not present.
  
• Staff Strike's bonus damage applied when it consumes a flank now correctly benefits from Single Target, rather than area of effect Damage bonuses.
  
• Mariner
  
• The 'Sail to' skill that returns you to the fishing village in Bej Mâgha should now correctly bring fellows along with you when used.
  
• Mariner 'Fire Pot' now has an innate -30% Resistance penetration since it does not benefit from players' Finesse.
  
• Rune-keeper
  
• Epic Conclusion's lightning VFX should once again appear as intended.
  
• Combat and Monsters
  
• Various Fell-beasts are no longer immune to Power of Knowledge, since this skill no longer drains enemy Power.
  
• Some stat crunch clean up erroneously caused many monster modifiers to incorrectly use negative values for mitigation bonuses, causing those buffs to turn into debuffs. This has been corrected, so monsters will once again receive the appropriate mitigation increases that they used to have. This mostly impacts monsters throughout the lower game levels, and especially boss monsters at those levels.
  
• Avanc Swamp Bite attack now properly displays its vitality reducing effect. This effect is no longer curable so that it doesn't block cures on the main damage over time.

• Uncut gems are now less likely to drop from enemies throughout the world. Gems found in containers and prospecting nodes are unchanged.
  
• Umbar's Crafting Guild has loosened its restrictions on bartering for items to improve your Eriador Crafting Guild standing.
  
• Recipes for crafting Sea-farer's Lively Crafted Essence Boxes, allowing selection of a Lively Sea-farer's Essence, has been automatically granted to Umbar tier cooks, jewellers, metalsmiths, scholars, tailors, weaponsmiths, and woodworkers.

• In the Vales of Anduin quest Wood for the Walls, the Damaged Walls should now be easier to click on when floaty names are off.
  
• The corpse that bestows the Bree-land quest The Failed Delivery will no longer be selectable after the quest is completed.
  
• The Dol Guldur "hard mode" quests "Let Them Hunger" and "One Fell Swoop" will now only be bestowed to characters that can complete them.
  
• The Evendim quest 'A Friend to the Kings of Old' now states clearly that to advance the objective you must complete two other quests. It also shows the locations of the bestowers of these quests on the map.
  
• The Udûn quest The Lonely Look-out has been revised to correct several issues. There are now quest guides to help locate objectives and some text has been changed for clarity.
  
• PLEASE NOTE: Players who logged out with The Lonely Lookout in progress will need to re-accept the quest and start it over due to versioning
  
• The North Downs quest A Request to the Earth-kin is now bestowed by Gondranc in Esteldín.
  
• The placement and appearance of the Tar Sand used in the Cape of Umbar quest The Black Sand has been adjusted.

• The Rift of Nurz Ghashu
  
• Thaurlach is now immune to crowd control effects.
  
• Sari-surma
  
• Drugoth now has an appropriate Mariner-specific skill.
  
• Missions and Delvings
  
• 28 new missions will be coming in Legacy of Morgoth! Visit mission givers in Iridír in Ambarûl, Urmâkh in Imhûlar and Ub Nishir in Urash Dâr for new missions. Most new missions are compatible with Delvings.
  
• In the Gundabad Mission "Sting Like a Grodbog" the mucous quest objects now behave correctly.
  
• The Elderslade mission "Into the Crystal Tunnels" now has a usable exit portal in the mission space.
  
• The following Cardolan and Swanfleet Missions have been updated due to a performance fix. These missions will be removed from your Quest Log if underway.
  
• "Caranost Command Post"
  
• "Caranost Courtyard"
  
• "Haunting at Dol Ernil"
  
• "The Hand, Out!"
  
• "Signs and Sigils"
  
• "Sifting Through Time"
  
• "Secrets and Plans"
  
• "Not as Many Heads"
  
• "Before They Bond"
  
• "Brigands in Nímbarth"
  
• "The Ruins of Gaervarad"
  
• "Jorthkyn and Hounds"
  
• "The Tombs of Gond Orchal"
  
• "Aberrations of Nature"
  
• "Dangerous Deliveries".
  
• The Following locations are now a part of the Mission Stable-master Network:
  
• Gerwyn's Convoy
  
• Clegur
  
• Herne
  
• Iridír (available only on servers with a level cap of 150 or greater)
  
• Urmâkh (available only on servers with a level cap of 150 or greater)
  
• Ub Nishir (available only on servers with a level cap of 150 or greater)
  
• Bloody Eagle (available only on servers with a level cap of 150 or greater)

• A few housing rewards from the 'Dragon and the Storm' instance were smaller than intended, and are now slightly larger. This affects the Dragon and the Storm Painting, Tapestry, Chair, and Hearth items.
  
• Items and Rewards
  
• The following items will now go into the Junk Item Carry-alls: Jade Gemstones, Mithril Dust, Old Arrowheads, and Ancient Spearheads.
  
• Ornamental PvMP appearances from the recent event reward track should now correctly take clothing dyes.
  
• Osgiliath instance cluster equipment should now have an appropriate minimum level requirement when it fails to scale correctly to your character's level.
  
• Newly acquired Adventurer's lootbox gear, for level 150 characters, will now scale to item level 521 - 523.
  
• The following skill/emote granting items received from the Treasure Hunt event will now disenchant into Buried Treasure Tokens for those who have already earned the skills/emotes: Cave-claw Steed, Rich!, Treasure Laden Goat, Treasure Laden Steed, Counterfeit, Gem Inspection, Coin Flip, Dowse, and Gold Panning.

• Fixed a bug with the radar where Players and Monster Players would be labeled as a Warband instead of a Glory Seeker.
  
• The Armies of the Coldfells and Mount Gram have both called upon some of their allies to strengthen the area immediately outside their main bases.
  
• Effects which confer immunity to slows should now work more reliably.
  
• Monster Player ratings from items and traits have been increased from item level 515 to item level 520 equivalent values.
  
• Audacity Incoming Damage buff for both Free Peoples and Monster Players has been increased from x0.55 to x0.5 (this means you will take approximately 10% less damage than before).
  
• Monster Player DPS has been increased approximately 4.5%.
  
• Chests of Gramsfoot and Glan Vraig should now correctly reward you only with items relevant to your side of the war.
  
• Chests of the First Marshal and Second Marshal have been deprecated. If you happen to have any of these keys, they can be exchanged at Quartermaster Ash for a portion of their original Token of Valour cost.
  
• The quest 'Valourous' is now a daily quest. After completing the quest for the day, you may barter for more keys at an increased cost.
  
• Orc Reaver
  
• Reduced Thrash Tier 3 Damage by 25%.
  
• Increased Jagged Wound DoT Damage by 50%.
  
• Increased Mutilation DoT Damage by 60%.
  
• Blade Toss now Stuns rather than Knocks Down your target.
  
• Blade Toss's positional angle has been reduced from 160 degrees to 120 degrees. This means you must be more directly behind your opponent when using Blade Toss in order for its positional effects to apply.
  
• Reduced auto attack damage by 20%.
  
• Increased most skill damage by 15% (excludes thrash, blade toss, gut punch, and impale).
  
• Blinding Dust now multiplied Outgoing Melee and Ranged Damage by x0.1 (-10% from baseline) and Tactical Damage by x0.975 and has no impact on miss chance.
  
• Disarm duration reduced from 5s > 3s.
  
• Disarm is no longer an Immediate Skill.
  
• Severing Strike is now an Immediate Skill.
  
• Defiler
  
• Increasing Efflorescence Base range to 15m; enhanced range to 30m.
  
• Efflorescence base cooldown increased 20s > 45s.
  
• Efflorescence healing increased by 166%.
  
• Fire Gourd and Explosive Gourd Damage reduced by 20%.
  
• Plague Gourd Damage tripled (+200%).
  
• Plague Gourd cooldown increased from 8s > 16s.
  
• Tenderize's daze effect now has a 10s base duration and 100% chance to daze.
  
• Tenderize cooldown increased from 5s > 15s.
  
• Enhanced Blessing of Darkness trait now negates 50% of absorbed damage.
  
• Blessing of Darkness can no longer be interrupted while channeling. It can still be broken by movement or crowd control.
  
• Boon of Toxic Flesh cooldown increased from 20s > 45s.
  
• Boon of the Blackened Heart duration reduced from 30s > 5s.
  
• Boon of the Blackened Heart Damage buff increased from 7.5% > 25%.
  
• Boon of the Blackened Heart cooldown increased from 20s > 45s.
  
• Frugal cursing now reduces Boon and Curse cooldowns by 5s.
  
• New trait: Ancient Boons causes your boons to apply a more potent buff for the first 5 second.
  
• New skill: in Curse-shouter, Efflorescence becomes Miasma, a long-induction skill that deals damage to enemies within 10m of the defiler. Within 6m of the defiler, Stinging Spores explode on their targets, dealing potent instant damage and healing the defiler.
  
• Fell Restoration Power cost increased 30%.
  
• The Trait 'Enhanced Skill: Fell Sacrifice' now improves Fell Restoration instead. It reduces the cooldown of Fell Restoration by 10s and reduces its Power cost by 15%.
  
• Fell Sacrifice cooldown reduced to 2s.
  
• New skill: Acrid Salts, a single-target combat revive with a 3m cooldown.
  
• Warleader
  
• New trait, Clinging Fear: causes your shouts to have a 30% chance to apply 'Clinging Fear' to your target. Your melee skills will transform this clinging fear into a potent damage over time effect.
  
• Quitters Never Win cooldown reduced from 3m to 60s.
  
• Quitters Never Win active CD reduction (from Quit Whining and Crack the Whip) reduced from -10s to -2s.
  
• Get a Grip Healing increased.
  
• Several area of effect heals now apply only to the war-band (6-player group) of the skill's target. This does reduce area of effect out-of-group healing considerably but will also give you much greater control of who is healed by these group-heal skills within groups.
  
• On Your Feet now revives only 3 targets.
  
• On Your Feet is now a targeted skill with 20m range. It will revive up to 3 targets in a 15m radius around your selection.
  
• All Melee skills now cost no Power and restore some Power when used.
  
• Power cost increased moderately for healing skills and some shouts.
  
• New skill: Scold Slackers: out-of-combat revive. 30 meter range, 3 second cooldown.
  
• New skill: White-hot Whip (Brawler version of 'Crack the Whip' is a 10 meter range melee skill).
  
• New skill: Condemned (Brawler version of 'On Your Feet' is a targeted and potent debuff).
  
• New skill: Cleave (Commander version of 'Cleave' heals the fellowship for each target hit).
  
• New skill: Petty Criticism is a weak instant healing skill in Commander stance, and a weak, low-cooldown Shout in Brawler stance.
  
• New skill: Scorn is a more potent Single-target heal with a short induction, and a moderately damaging shout in Brawler stance.
  
• New skill: War-forged Uruk (sets incoming damage to 10% and tiers up another defensive buff if you continue to be targeted while active).
  
• New skill: Marching Orders applies a tiered corruption, which is either defensive or offensive depending on your current stance.
  
• New skill: Roaring/Crushing Shield (heals self and debuffs enemy in commander; buffs offense in brawler).
  
• New Brawler skill: Mobilize > Ambush grants your war-band +20% speed and critical chance. this effect is removed upon being hit by an attacker.
  
• Mobilize speed buff now gives +40% speed for 10s.
  
• Imposing Presence now heals 7.5% of Maximum Morale of affected allies when cast.
  
• Banners of Terror and Horror are now usable in combat by default.
  
• Banners of Terror and Horror now last 30 second.
  
• Banners of Terror and Horror now share a 2m cooldown.
  
• Banners of Terror and Horror now apply a more potent effect lasting 10s to enemies around the Warleader.
  
• Banner of Terror now deals 7.5% Power Damage to nearby enemies.
  
• Banner of Horror now deals 5% Morale Damage to nearby players.
  
• Command Post and Point Defence no longer have inductions.
  
• Command Post and Point Defence now last 45s.
  
• Command Post and Point Defence now share a 2m 30s cooldown.
  
• Command Post and Point Defence now apply a more potent effect lasting 10s to group members around the Warleader.
  
• Aura of Command buff now improves all Damage types by 20% (previously buffed Melee Damage by 25%).
  
• The trait 'Lead the Charge' now reduces all Banner skill cooldowns by 30s. (known issue: this currently displays in-game as -30s inductions, rather than cooldowns).

• Texture issues in Umbar Mokh have been resolved.
  
• Z-fighting issues in Umbar Mokh have been resolved.
  
• Floating asset issues in Umbar Mokh have been resolved.
  
• Misc decor placement issues have been resolved.
  
• Misc stuck spots have been resolved.

• GERMAN: Several VO lines from Blackroot Vale, Gondor Renewed and Umbar are now playing correctly in German.
  
• FRENCH: The command "/jdr oui" will now properly indicate that the player is roleplaying.

• Character Select Screen - Avatar Update Visible checkbox is only visible for avatar races that use it. These races are currently only Dwarves and Hobbits.
  
• Barber Shop panel is now larger.
  
• Barber Shop panel can now be dynamically scaled.
  
• Character panel can now be dynamically scaled.
  
• System Menu and Options panel can now be dynamically scaled.
  
• We plan on releasing more hair styles for the Elves in the future.

• Known issue: Certain hats for Elves have a hair gap.
  
• The Minstrel and Mariner instruments available from instance cluster barter were set to item level 520. They should be item level 525. This will be fixed in a future patch.
  
• The legendary quality set item rings, bracelets, and earrings availble from instance cluster barter were accidentally set to have a disenchant value. This will be removed in a future patch.
  
• Some bows and a club dropping in the instance cluster were set to common damage type instead of Westernesse or Beleriand damage. This will be fixed in a future patch.
  
• Some bows dropping in the instance cluster are lacking the option to disenchant into Embers. This will be corrected in a future patch.

Here are the release notes for Update 41.3, released on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024.


Legacy of Morgoth is the latest expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online! Venture into the untamed wilds of Near Harad, where ancient secrets lurk beneath sun-scorched sands and treacherous marshlands! Feel the thrill of discovery as you race against time, deciphering cryptic maps and forging unlikely alliances. In this land of hidden perils and breathtaking vistas, your choices will shape the fate of Middle-earth.

With courage as your compass, pursue cunning traitors through scorching deserts, petrified forests, and wind-carved canyons. Stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the fierce and enigmatic peoples of this land to prevent against a coming darkness more terrifying than Mordor's shadow. For in these mysterious lands awaits something that few would have dreamed in their most terrible of nightmares: the Legacy of Morgoth.

Read more about the Legacy of Morgoth expansion on LOTRO.com![www.lotro.com]

• Veil of the Nine
  
• Nazgul Marks now last up to one hour to create larger windows for special event formats. The mark will still be removed when a reward is acquired.
  
• Nazgul are now immune to Forced Taunt effects.
  
• Year of the Dragon
  
• Fixed some issues with monster summons and stats in the solo and duo versions of this instance. Solo enemy morale has gone up ~15% but enemy defences have been reduced slightly.
  
• The Solo/Duo enemy enhancement buff is now visible to players.
  
• Avatars of War no longer summon group-difficulty shades in solo/duo.
  
• Ragrekhul no longer summons group-difficulty Grims in solo/duo.
  
• Hard Tack Event
  
• An issue that was causing the event to get out of sync has been addressed.
  
• Title descriptions have been adjusted to match the new number of completions needed to earn them in the Hard Tack event. We have also addressed a typo.
  
• There should no longer be an errant broadcast occurring in the Hard Tack event space. Additionally, all event announcements should occur in the event space proper.
  
• All Crafted food should now correctly display the correct duration.
  
• Birds collected while Birding are not intended to be trade-able. They should auto-consume and add to your Collections panel. In the rare cases where these birds do appear in inventory, they will now be bound to character, and can simply be used from inventory.
  
• On Mordor and Angmar, the adventures of Bingo Boffin can now be completed through "A Change of Name". Further quests will unlock once the level cap increases.
  
• Force Taunts can once again overwrite one another without waiting for the active force taunt to expire on your target.
  
• Fixed a typo on the radar where Players & Monster Players would be labeled as Warband instead of Glory Seeker.
  
• The Rune-keeper skill Fulgurite Rune-stone FX is now affected by the Enable Avatar Hit Effects game option.
  
• The Monster Player Reward Track - Season 1 will be temporarily re-enabled for final advancement and claims starting at 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on October 3rd for thirty days. The end time count down should now correctly display in the reward track as well.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 41.2: Year of the Dragon, released on Thursday, August 29, 2024.
Before the Shadow content is now free to play! All players now have the Before the Shadow content that had been available to purchase in the LOTRO Store. There is also a free coupon for steeds! https://www.lotro.com/news/lotro-before-the-shadow-free-and-coupon-en.

Opens at 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on Thursday, August 29th!

A new instance called "The Dragon and the Storm" is now available for all players! This instance is available for up to six players with level 150 characters. Kindred of the Coins member Rothog sent the hunter Shaidal to acquire a fearsome "dragon", and this story from the Tales of the Kindred story line culminates in witnessing the conclusion of Rothog's quest to entertain the people of Umbar! The Instance Finder is available by default by pressing Control+J. Read more on LOTRO.com and get a Coupon Code for a Green Drake Portrait Frame and Golden Drakeling pet[www.lotro.com]!

Sea-faring Adventurer's Lively Essence Boxes are now available for barter with the Adventurer's Quartermaster and have a chance to drop from Adventurer's Steel-bound Lootboxes! Adventurer's and Traveller's Steel-bound Lootboxes also contain new "Sophisticated Birder" cosmetic items including an avatar cosmetic outfit, a war-steed accessory, a chaffinch cosmetic pet, plus new songbird housing items featuring the magpie and finch.  These items are also available on Filbert Fig for Figments of Splendour. Additionally, the Spotted Jerboa pet and Steed of the Eldar are now available on Filbert Fig for Figments of Splendour. Adventurer's and Traveller's Steel-bound Lootboxes also now contain a Sophisticated Birder's Pack and magpie cosmetic pet. Myrtle Mint has retired for the season. Read more in this article on LOTRO.com.[www.lotro.com]

• For all classes, the inherent threat multiplier for non-tank specializations has been reduced slightly.
  
• In update 41, a change was made to Force Taunts to prevent players from chaining taunts together. However, without broader changes to the threat system overall, this had a net negative impact, and has been reverted. Force taunts should once again overwrite one another as you are accustomed to.
  
• Brawler
  
• Strike to the Sky no longer knocks enemies upwards in PvMP.
  
• Captain
  
• Reform the Lines no longer has an uncapped target count. It is now a fellowship-wide effect, in line with other group heals.
  
• In the U41.1 healing adjustment, Valour heals were not compensated. The missed ~11% compensatory bump has now been added to Valour heals.
  
• Champion
  
• The Rend bleed and the Punishing Blow bleed will no longer overwrite one another.
  
• Hunter
  
• Trait 'Pathfinder' now properly displays it's percentage increases inside it's tooltip.
  
• Lore-master
  
• Corrected an issue with the Spirit pet's 'Nature's Bounty' effect description.
  
• Call to the Valar no longer erroneously resets the cooldown of Gust of Wind/Burning Gale.
  
• Lore-master pets now take a further -20% Incoming Damage when summoned while specialized in the Ancient Master.
  
• Sticky Gourd no longer reapplies the Burning Embers DoT for its duration: it will apply or tier up an existing Embers DoT once, when applied. Sticky Gourd's uptime was greatly overshadowing Gust of Wind, which was less efficient and requires non-trivial trait investment to help spread the Embers DoT in AoE situations.
  
• Deep Graspers can heal once again.
  
• You may now safely use the skill 'The Ancient Master' while you currently have one 'Ancient Master' charge. Using the skill while you had a single charge was breaking the skill and leaving you with 5 charges but without your skills being modified by them. This has been corrected, so the Ancient Master should function as intended regardless of the status of your current Ancient Master charges.
  
• Ring of Fire's 'barrier' Damage has been reduced in PvMP.
  
• Nature's Fury is now a cleansable Wound effect.
  
• The Eagle's major skill 'Fan the Flames' no longer tries to tier up any existing Burning Embers DoT on the target. This effect was experiencing issues and at times applied a version of Burning Embers that dealt 0-1 Damage. Where it previously tried to tier up an Embers DoT, it now deals bonus instant Damage each time it pulses when a Burning Embers DoT is present on its target.
  
• The Raven skill 'Distraction' once again applies a version of the enrage effect that includes a 10% reduction to the target's Ranged Damage.
  
• Lightning-charged Staff Strike no longer erroneously benefits twice from the 'Staff Skill Damage' tracery bonus.
  
• Warden
  
• Warden's Desperate Combat is once again correctly disabled when your last charge is used up.

• Recipes for crafting Sea-farer's Crafted Essence Boxes, allowing selection of an item level 520 Sea-farer's Essence, has been automatically granted to Umbar tier Cooks, Jewelers, Metalsmiths, Scholars, Tailors, Weaponsmiths, and Woodworkers.

• Hard Tack Event
  
• There is now a message in Ered Luin that the Hard event starts in 10 minutes, and another message that the event begins in 5 minutes.
  
• There is now a message in the event space that the Hard Tack Event has begun.
  
• There is now a message in the event space that the Hard Tack Event will end in 15 minutes.
  
• There is now a message in the event space that the Hard Tack Event will end in 10 minutes.
  
• There is now a message in the event space that the Hard Tack Event will end in 5 minutes.
  
• There is now a message in the event space that the Hard Tack Event has ended.
  
• Accomplishment completions for the competitor rewards for Prospectors and Cooks reduces to 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 for each tier.
  
• Mining nodes now require the use of a mining pick in the event space.
  
• Recipes should now all execute at 1 second.
  
• Using the oven now requires the use of Cooking Supplies in the event space.
  
• Using the oven now has a 25 second induction reduced by eating the foods crafted in the event space as with other inductions in the event.
  
• Duration of effects granted by all crafted food is now 4 minutes to match the cooldown on using the food.
  
• Ore extracted from the nodes now remains available for collection for 120 seconds instead of 90 seconds.
  
• Forester Event
  
• The final reward on the Forester event has been increased to 20 Participation Ribbons.
  
• The Veil of the Nine
  
• Nazgul will no longer reset their vitals on leaving combat.

• Reward titles for monster players and for players now have purchase restrictions blocking players from errantly repurchasing a title they already acquired.
  
• Lainedhal's Insignia should no longer remove beneficial effects from store purchases when used, the effects should instead be briefly suppressed.
  
• Lainedhal's Insignia now has a cooldown timer equal to the Tyrant's Brand.
  
• There were a number of quests in the Ettenmoors allowing players to use Mithril to travel. The Mithril travel has been disabled.
  
• Increasing Monster Player health by 5%.
  
• Increased the mitigation bonus for almost all blessings (more offensive blessing receive a greater benefit - Ongburz mitigations technically reduced a very small amount).
  
• Increased damage bonus for Scara and Krahjarn blessings by 5% and 10% respectively.
  
• Increased DoT Damage bonus of Shelob blessing by 5%.
  
• Increased Physical Mastery bonus from the Ongburz blessing.
  
• Corrected Lugazag and TR ingress/egress flags so that only the appropriate side may interact with their banners.
  
• Glory-seeking should no longer allow stealth.

• The Eryn Lasgalen quest Mending the Mirkwood can now once again be completed. PLEASE NOTE: Players who logged out with Mending the Mirkwood in progress will need to re-accept the quest and start it over due to the required versioning to address the issue.
  
• The following quests in Cardolan have had their level changed from 20 to 25: Dousing the Flaming Farm, Farmer Hove's Tools, Goblins in Haudh Narui, and A Report for Taeras.
  
• The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu
  
• Some Rift Iron and Obsidian barter items have been added to Rift chest containers. This is so raid groups (where you can not earn these items from defeating enemies) are still able to earn some of these currencies.
  
• Thrang's Sword and Thaurlach's Broken Chain Link now drop from their corresponding chest containers, so you will only receive one of each per victory, which will also be obtainable by raid groups.
  
• UI:
  
• Custom names for Carry-alls now display properly in shared storage, vault, and housing storage. Note that alphabetical sorting will continue to sort according to the default carry-all name.
  
• Miscellaneous:
  
• Rivendell level 50 consumable potions now have their intended Shadow and Fire Mitigation typing.
  
• Added public layering to several of the early regions of our game that were not previously covered. This should help prevent severe mobbing and perf issues during Nazgul encounters or other crowd events in these areas.
  
• There were a number of quests in the Ettenmoors allowing players to use mithril to travel. The mithril travel has been disabled.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 41.1, released on Wednesday, August 14, 2024.

• We have made changes to the conditions in which a lesser wraith can spawn:
  
• When a player is in an instance and NOT in a Fellowship, no lesser wraiths can spawn. This means that solo/story instances will no longer be interrupted by wraiths, but note that joining a group with another player will still re-enable wraith spawns.
  
• While you are in a group with at least one other player, even if that player is not nearby, lesser wraiths are re-enabled inside of instances.
  
• The chance for a wraith to spawn has been reduced by half.
  
• The wraith spawn cooldown has been updated to 7 minutes.
  
• Being attacked by a wraith now prevents you from spawning an additional wraith when the first is killed. Note that if you are not struck by the wraith, you may still spawn a new one, so you might still see multiple in a row if you're ganging up on them.
  
• Wraiths below level 20 now remove their corruption when they spawn. Players at level 20 and above all have access to Corruption removal, and will be expected to handle these corruptions through skills.
  
• Low-level wraiths now use shadow bolts less frequently.

• We adjusted the rewards on the Forester Crafting event. Delivering the refined wood to Aldith awards 10 participation ribbons. Delivering the refined hides to Aldith awards 10 participation ribbons. Lastly, completing the caber race awards an additional 10 participation ribbons.

• Beornings and Captains healing at low levels has been corrected. Both of these classes were found to be erroneously using a pre-stat-crunch base healing curve. The effect of this bug is increasingly diminished at higher player levels, at low levels, both classes were healing much, much more than their intended values. At level 50, healing was more than 850% higher than intended. Low-level healing has now been brought back into its intended range.
  
• Beorning Healing increased 11% across the board to counteract the effect (which is about ~10% at level 150) of the above bug fix for level capped players. At level 150, your healing should now be slightly higher than it was before this change.
  
• Nature's Mend Healing increased a further 17%.
  
• Maul / Aid the Assault Healing increased a further 44%.
  
• Captain Healing increased 11% across the board to counteract the effect (which is about ~10% at level 150) of the above bug fix for level capped players. At level 150, your healing should now be slightly higher than it was before this change.
  
• The Exhaustion effect that follows To Arms, West Wind, and SotW: Protection now properly applies when the first of these effects expires on a character. That means that even if multiple effects are used on you at the same time, you will become Exhausted when one of them expires, even if that effect has been temporarily suppressed by another.
  
• Lore-master
  
• Ancient Master stacks should now be removed on defeat.
  
• Lore-master special cosmetic pets will no longer prevent you from summoning a combat pet.
  
• Pet command skills and 'Call to' skills will now apply their beneficial and pet effects even if their initial skill hit is resisted.
  
• Raven's Fear No Darkness no longer applies its heal twice.
  
• Ancient Master's Brittle Frost (applied by Gust of Wind) now applies its effects properly.
  
• The Bear pet's Shatter Arms debuff tooltip no longer shows a duplicate line for Melee Damage.
  
• Yellow-line Lynx and Lurker Minor Command debuffs are now additive, rather than multiplicative, Incoming Damage debuffs.
  
• Remmorchant Armour once again improves the potency of Water Lore's incoming healing buff.
  
• Wild Sigils will always be applied to your companion, even if the damging component is resisted by your target.
  
• Wizard's Fire no longer consumes flanks, but will always restore a small amount of Power when used.
  
• Insult to Injury effects now have proper descriptions rather than DNT.
  
• Lore-master Combat Pet cosmetic tomes purchased with Mithril Coins now have accurate minimum level requirements.
  
• Sign of the Wild: Protection cooldowns now match player command skill cooldown. These pet skills should always be off-cooldown when your corresponding player skill is available.
  
• Rune-keeper
  
• The Incoming Crit debuff applied by Flurry of Winter is now called Brittle Frost.

• We updated the title of the Bree-land birding accomplishment to remove a typo.
  
• All movement boosting skills and effects should now be suppressed during the Farmers Faire Egg Scramble and Mushroom Hunt experiences.
  
• Game Launcher: the -password command line parameter should work once again.
  
• We have fixed the issue preventing the 'Protector of Life' title to bestow on players purchasing the item.
  
• Monster Player Rewards related to the Season of Strife Reward Track available on the barter vendor were mistakenly blocking monster players from purchase. This has been rectified.
  
• We addressed an issue where items in the Thorin's Hall Hard Tack Event could not be picked up.
  
• Kinship naming rules have been adjusted to allow some common words including steward, merry, and green to be used. These words still will not be allowed as character names.
  
• Fixed a number of Tier 5 crafted items which were still set to item level higher than 50. Crafted gear from this tier should cap out at item level 50.
  
• Adjusted low-level essences (level 50 - 95) which now give slightly less stats so as not to outshine unique expansion pieces in the 50-85 level range.
  
• Reintroduced some level 50 items back into reward tables on rare monsters.
  
• Lava damage in "The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu" is now much more deadly.
  
• Most level 45-50 monsters found in group/challenge areas now have slightly improved stats.
  
• Most rare (shard dropper) monsters found in level 50 areas now have improved stats.
  
• Skirmish camps will no longer allow you to barter for Carn Dûm and Urugarth class items until the server's level cap is at least 60.
  
• Skirmish camps will no longer allow you to barter for rare crafting shards until the server's level cap is at least 85.
  
• The Eryn Lasgalen quest Cleansing the Mirkwood is once again completable.
  
• Ironfold and higher tiers of crafted Light and Fire oils have had the names of their effect changed to match each other.
  
• Several Raid and Instance Items have had their names adjusted to better fit the appearance of the item.
  
• "Emerald Belt Buckle Recipe" now has a proper icon for its tier of crafting as well as a proper description.
  
• Jill Brushwood at the Combe Crafting Hall in Bree-land will now talk to you about the quest Builders, Bookworms, and Blacksmiths.
  
• The Farmers Faire Restocking the Market quests will now correctly advance the daily festival wrapper A Sunny Faire Day.
  
• Fixed an animation issue with Champion's Brutal Strikes/Ferocious Strikes.
  
• An issue has been corrected with the male race of Men, Beorning, and River-hobbit only animating above the waist.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the dismount animation to get stuck in a loop for female Race of Men, Beorning, and River-hobbit characters.

Enjoy the tales of Middle-earth, chapter by chapter, visit iconic locations, and adventure with new or existing friends on the path of Frodo, Gandalf, and the Fellowship of the Ring!

Angmar and Mordor are new Legendary Worlds offering a special Veil of the Nine challenge. These two worlds are also our first 64-bit servers, and Mordor is our first in Europe.

Join us and make a fresh start with a brand-new character; see Tolkien's bustling realm anew, whether for your first or fiftieth time. Angmar and Mordor open new regions and levels gradually over time, from the beginning of LOTRO all the way up to today's current chapters of the story! We invite you to come home to Middle-earth.


In addition to being our first 64-bit server worlds, Angmar and Mordor feature a new challenge called Veil of the Nine.

The Veil of the Nine event heralds the arrival of the Nazgul - Sauron’s most feared servants - who may appear across the world during your adventures as they search for the Ring-bearer, posing a terrible threat to any unlucky enough to cross their paths.

Such is the power of the Nine that it will take many fighting together to defeat them! The heroes of Middle-earth are advised to raise the hue and cry should they fall afoul of such evil, that allies might arrive in time to aid them.

Certain abilities of the Nine are of such terrible power that a hero struck down by them will be unable to revive at the site of battle and will be forced to retreat! You have been warned.

To aid in battle against the Nine and the dreadful fear that follows in their wake, there are rumours that twelve lesser rings of power - forged as works to prove the methods of ring-craft before the forging of the great Rings of Power - might yet be found throughout the world by those lucky enough to stumble across them.

In addition, servants of the Nine also stalk the land, nameless wraiths seeking out allies of Elrond and the Dunadain that they might strike them down. These wraiths can be encountered by any hero once they reach 10th level and will pose a more frequent threat to adventurers.


The Veil of the Nine challenge is only sometimes available on Angmar or Mordor, and its duration will be determined by the game masters at Standing Stone Games. When active both lesser wraiths and the Nine may appear nearby while you are engaged in battle. The appearance of one of the Nazgul is broadcast in World Chat, and players can coordinate their attack and arrive to the fight. They will not remain indefinitely, and players will need to bring considerable forces to bear in order to defeat them before they return to the shadows. In order to claim the rewards for defeating one of the Nine, you must:

• Receive the Mark of the Nazgul in battle with them.
  
• Be within five levels of the current server cap.
  
• Be logged in within a few minutes of the Nazgul’s defeat.

Should one of the Nazgul find itself facing so many heroes that the land itself threatens to crumble beneath their fury, it may choose to banish some of those present, who will find themselves lost in shadow and emerging elsewhere.


Defeating nameless wraiths can earn you Tattered Shadows, while defeating one of the Nine will grant you a title accomplishment, as well as earning a Morgul Coin.

These shadows and coins can be traded with the Harried Scholar, Amelia, who resides in Esteldin, and is engaged in researching ways to battle Sauron’s deadliest servants. She can offer tools to aid you in your battle against the wraiths, as well as several cosmetic items, shadowed pets, and title frames.
Additional tiers of reputation and barter rewards will appear on Amelia as the cap level of the server advances. This reputation is advanced via reputation items that she offers in return for shadows or coins.


The Lesser Rings of Power are fickle, found when and where they choose, with each one only remaining for a handful of days before disappearing again. Once found these rings may be passed between the Free Folk as you see fit, but they will nevertheless eventually be lost and then must be found again.



50.


No.


For Angmar, we intend to offer character transfers from the world to a non-Legendary server of your choice. For Mordor, we intend to keep the world active and open for as long as it is financially viable to do so. In the event Mordor does shut down, we will make sure your character(s) get the opportunity to transfer from Mordor to a different game world.


Yes! This optional difficulty setting is active as normal, save during encounters with the named Ringwraiths themselves.


Lesser Wraiths of all types will appear while you are in combat with enemies close to your own character level. Ringwraiths will only appear up to once per hour per game world, and your character must have achieved the level cap in order for a Ringwraith to appear.


Wraiths will appear when the Veil of the Nine challenge is currently active on either Angmar or Mordor. The timing of this activity will be determined by Standing Stone Games. We currently do not plan to announce when wraiths will appear.


There is a World Chat announcement when a Ringwraith spawns. The location is up to players to communicate with each other to coordinate their attack!


After a half hour, the Ringwraiths return to the shadows even if they are in the midst of combat to await their next attack.


Any skirmishes or instances that are above the current level cap of the Legendary server are not accessible until the level cap increases.


VIP membership is a requirement for access.


Yes, we intend to update all game worlds to be 64-bit servers in the future.


Yes! You can expect your ping to the game world to perhaps be slower than when you play on a game world that is not located in Europe, depending on your geographic location.


Yes! Angmar is located in the United States, so European players can expect a similar ping rate to their experience playing on our other non-Mordor game worlds.


We will continue to support all of our game worlds. At this time we do not intend to relocate these game worlds to a European data center.


On standard servers, players can reach the maximum level cap with no restrictions, and players adventure in the story beyond the destruction of the One Ring.

The Legendary servers start with only initial Level 50 and below content, with a focus on the Shadows of Angmar and Before the Shadow story. The level cap and story content unlocks over time, allowing players to enjoy the early story of The Lord of the Rings Online together!


Yes, but some items may not be available until the Legendary server advances further in the Story / Level cap.


Yes, you will still get your anniversary gifts. However, some level restricted pre-order items aren't available until the Legendary world advances far enough in the story to unlock them.


Transfers of Shared Account items are only available from Legendary Worlds when character transfers are available on a Legendary World.


Yes. Additionally, previously-purchased account-based items are available on both worlds.


No, the Legendary servers are available from the Select Game World menu when logging in through the regular LOTRO client.


Legendary weapons become available when the Legendary server unlocks the Mines of Moria story.


Yes, most festivals are available for all worlds, including Legendary. A limited number of events might occur in a region that the Legendary world has not yet advanced to, but these events would become accessible once the Story / Level cap advances into those areas.


While the use of Experience potions and items is permitted, players are not able to use or purchase character level boosts (example: Gift of the Valar) on the Legendary world until the Story and level cap advances far enough. It is not possible to use a character boost to reach a level or content higher than the Legendary server currently has unlocked.


Yes, any previously purchased Expansions and Quest Packs will be honored and allow you access on Legendary once the server reaches that point in the Story.


By most descriptions, a “Classic” server is an attempt to recreate LOTRO exactly as it was at launch, using only assets and content that was available in 2007.

A Legendary server runs alongside existing servers, and therefore contains many of the changes that have been made to the game over the years, such as UI improvements, bug fixes, changes to game systems, etc. In cases where we have updated or changed the layout of regions, the Legendary server uses the updated version of the regions. In cases where we have changed items or player abilities, the Legendary server uses those updated abilities.  Some content or gameplay that isn’t appropriate to the Legendary server’s current level cap may be restricted, until that portion of the story unlocks with level cap increases (one does not simply walk into Mordor on Legendary until the time comes).

Here the Release Notes for Update 41: On the Wing, released on Wednesday, July 31st, 2024.

The second Crafting Event has arrived called the Hard Tack of Thorin's Hall! This community effort is open to everyone but focuses particularly on Prospecting and Cooking. This is a cooperative event that can be completed by crafters and non-crafters alike. The event takes place every hour with an access point in Thorin's Gates outside of Thorin's Hall. There is a broadcast to Ered Luin five minutes before the event begins, and the event lasts for twenty minutes.

Taking part in the event provides ribbons that can be bartered for rewards with the vendor Heori Firefeed outside of the event space. Once inside of Ukhbab-gairu, speak to Ogmund Bellowbreath to acquire the event quest. Once acquired, three NPCs are available. Prospectors can speak to Skuld Scentlode to pick up the Prospector-only quest, Cooks can speak to Ingul Ovestoke to pick up the Cook-only quest, and everyone can speak to Velgerd Kilnwarden, Skuld, or Ingul to pick up a support quest available to everyone, including non-crafters. Characters must have reached Novice before they can take part in the event.

A new Hobby is now available in The Lord of the Rings Online! Discover and track birds throughout Middle-earth and earn new rewards! Players can visit a Hobby Master in any of the locations throughout the world to get started, including The Last Homely House in the Hall of Fire, Arnfin in The Twenty-first Hall, Dol Amroth in the Havens of Belfalas, Henry Oakeshott in the Scholar's Stair Archives in Bree, and Brago Puddifoot by the Bywater Pool in The Shire. Equip your Birdwatcher's Kit and locate birds while traveling! Use a Birding skill called "Spot Bird" to determine what bird if any is discovered. Once you use "Spot Bird" a thirty second channeling begins, during which you will get three birdwatching execution chances at random intervals. Successfully executing the skill during each of these opportunities will allow you to find rarer birds!

Discovered birds are entered as a stamp into a new tab in the Collections Panel created for Birding. The Collections Panel can be accessed through the main menu or by pressing Shift+C. Birdwatcher's Kits can be purchased from any Supplier vendor. Leveling up your Birding gives you a chance to discover rarer birds. When you train Birding you will get text showing you which regions birds can be found in, and birds can be found in any outdoor areas in those regions. Currently, Birding is possible in Forochel, Angmar, Ered Luin, Evendim, North Downs, Misty Mountains, the Shire, Bree-land, Lone-lands, Cardolan, Trollshaws, Swanfleet, Eregion, Enedwaith, and Dunland. After twenty Birding attempts in a region the area will grow cold and you'll need to travel to a different region to continue or wait for the cooldown to end.

The Lore-master class is getting a big update! The changes aim to better differentiate the roles and play styles of the three different Lore-master Trait specializations. See the full list of changes in the release notes below.

New quests have been added to support a new Monster Player Reward Track available in the LOTRO Store! These quests are available from Faranil at Glân Vraig for Free Players and by Cinaid in Gramsfoot for Monster Players. Two quests introduce the new daily offerings available. The first asks you to find an item in the Ettenmoors, and the second asks you to get advice from people who might know more. Once these introductory quests are completed, new daily quests from Faranil and Cinaid open that rotate daily and drive direct conflict across the Ettenmoors. The sides will work to cultivate or corrupt a sapling through daily questing. These daily quests can be reset with Mithril on the Monster side of the battle.

Glory-seeking is a new quest type available in the Ettenmoors where up to four players on each side can choose to become a glory-seeker. This marks their location on the map, places visual effects over their heads, and increases their damage output by 20%. Glory-seekers are rewarded for defeating opponents and grow stronger with every few kills. Defeating a large number of opponents within a twenty minute time limit gives glory-seekers a buff to damage, Renown/Infamy, and earned Glory for an additional 30 minutes.

The release notes are too lengthy to post in Steam. Read the full release notes on LOTRO.com.[www.lotro.com]

Here are the release notes for Update 40.0.1, released on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024.

• Voice over audio for the Kindred in the last step of the new quest for the Keteph storyline now plays correctly.
  
• The quest objective for the final quest in the "Infusion from the North" arc now reads correctly.
  
• The newly created craft guild quests that allow you to acquire the Umbar Craft Guild dailies after dropping the profession are now correctly counting toward the weekly guild quests.
  
• Umbar-môkh Resource Node tracking is now behaving correctly, with the following additions:
  
• Track Mines will now display Abandoned Iridescent Ore nodes on the radar map when available.
  
• Track Crops will now display Mushrooms and Caps of Evengleam on the radar map when available.
  
• Track Artifacts will now display Umbari Candles on the radar map when available.
  
• Wood nodes in the Umbar-môkh will display as old barrels of abandoned planks rather than branches.
  
• Monster: Khadimâl (Ghâs Hejai, Dil-irmíz) - now has open tapping enabled.
  
• The rare spawns in the Flooded Undercity area of the Catacombs were spawning too frequently. They will now respawn correctly.
  
• Forsaken Corsairs in Ilmabiri in the Catacombs of Umbar now count for the slayer deeds "Forsaken-slayer of Ilmabiri" and "Forsaken-slayer of Ilmabiri (Advanced)".

• The Depths of Mâkhda Khorbo
  
• When Umshûra's head rises out of the water, it now correctly counts down for a period of time until it becomes Furious.
  
• Furious countdown timers are now visible effects exposed to players under the vitals of Umshûra and Slapping Tentacles.
  
• Sturdy Tentacle morale has been reduced by 20%.

• Instructions to toggle the /move_whimsy and /milestone_whimsy emotes to default are now shown in the Collections Panel.
  
• The Collections Panel Stable-master map now shows Umbar-môkh.
  
• All Decorative Floor and Wall items introduced in Update 40 are now using the correct textures.

• Due to an issue with the new rare Spider spawn, Lightless Matron, she will be deactivated until a future update.
  
• The 'Barley Bread' required to advance the quest 'Infusion from the North: The Proper Outer Layer' is obtained from an Apprentice Tier recipe.  The Westfold Tier ingredient recipe 'Loaf of Barley Bread' cannot be used to advance this quest.  We will be clarifying the names of these items in a future update.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 40: Beneath the Surface, released on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.
The latest Legendary Items Reward Track has arrived with new rewards! See some of the new rewards on LOTRO.com. The 10th Legendary Items Reward Track begins at 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on May 15th and runs until 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on August 14th. Make sure to claim your rewards before the 11th Reward Track begins!
It is a new dawn for Umbar. At the request of Hármelak, the Golden Queen, the Kindred of the Coins has reopened the great meeting-hall of Dâr Laja so they can better hear the voices of their people. And yet, beneath the city in Umbar-môkh, there are some who feel threatened by this new order, working in the darkness until their plans bear fruit.
Speak to Jaith outside the Meeting-hall of Dâr Laja in the Upper Ward of the City of Umbar to begin Chapter 9 of "The Song of Waves and Wind", a new on-ramp for the story! We recommend you complete chapters 1 through 8 of "The Song of Waves and Wind", but it is not required to begin Chapter 9.
There are also new side quests in each of the five sections of Umbar-môkh. Each side quest chain is started by a member of the Kindred of the Coins inside of Dâr Laja.

• Tâkhdar; the Cellars, where shady business deals and black market sales take place.
  
• Ilmabiri; the Wells, where the sewers beneath the city are filled with a variety of dangers.
  
• Kamrabezûr; the Vaults, where it is rumored that escaped gladiators dwell.
  
• Khabârkhad; the Crypts, where the ancestors of Umbar's past rest - or do they?
  
• Dil-irmíz ; the Berths, a flooded area that is deemed so dangerous that adventurers are discouraged from travelling there alone.

These quests are for players at level 150.

• Beorning
  
• Wrathful was incorrectly increasing Beorning crit chance by 4% starting at 1 Wrath rather than 21 Wrath. It now correctly increases your Critical Chance by 4% every 20 wrath, starting at 21 wrath and maxing out at 81 Wrath. The Wrathful trait tooltip has also been updated so that it correctly reflects this effect.
  
• Ferocious Roar now interacts correctly with Trample, Nature's Wrath, Rush, Sacrifice, Vicious Claws, and Hearten.
  
• Captain
  
• The Lend Courage tooltip now displays the correct value for Morale restored.
  
• The Lend Resolve tooltip now displays the correct values for Morale and Power restored.
  
• The Oathbreaker's Shame tooltip now has a disclaimer that its effect will not stack with other potent Incoming Damage debuffs.
  
• Captains could end up in a temporary state where Rallying Cry and Rousing Cry were both disabled after using Time of Need and subsequently defeating a monster, This has been fixed so that Defeat Events from kills correctly refresh the 15 second duration even when following the use of Time of Need.
  
• Champion
  
• The tooltip of the Umbari Armour of a Thousand Blades now clearly states that it only changes the effect applied by Great Cleave.
  
• Guardian
  
• Bastion of Light, when modified with both Radiate and Flash of Light, failed to spread debuffs applied by the guardian. This has been fixed.
  
• We fixed a string error that was reintroduced to the Protection by the sword skill.
  
• Shield-swipe now correctly reduces the cooldown of Pledge while wearing the Umbari Armour of the Protector.
  
• The Umbari Armour of the Protector's bonus to Max Morale should no longer reset momentarily when you would have earned a new tier of Fortifications while already sitting at the max Fortifications tier.
  
• Lore-master
  
• Shield of the Raven's Wing buff reduced to 1/5 its current value. The Mitigation Rating from this buff was erroneously increased too much when it was fixed recently so that it scales with player level correctly. It now scales correctly and has the intended potency.
  
• The Ancient Craft Duration Legacy no longer increases Ancient Craft's duration by 1 second longer than its tooltip suggests.
  
• The Murder of Crows tooltip now has a disclaimer that its effect will not stack with other potent Incoming Damage debuffs.
  
• The Trait 'Ancient Craft' now clarifies that it gives Ancient Craft bonus damage for your next Lightning Storm or Lightning Strike, but does not apply bonus damage for any Lightning Skills other than those two.
  
• The skill tooltip for Deep Lore now refers to the fact that affected enemies may summon tentacles which will heal you and your allies.
  
• Mariner
  
• The trait 'Relaxing Wind' now displays the correct information on rank 1 of its tooltip.
  
• The trait 'Keen Sight' now clarifies that it improves only your Melee Damage.
  
• The trait 'Rare Ingredients' now displays the correct number of additional Diseases cleansed per tier.
  
• The trait 'Test Defences' now more clearly states how many times its effect may tier up per trait rank.
  
• The skill 'Rummage: Scrap of Music' now gains the bonus healing from the trait 'Enheartening Songs.'
  
• Rune-keeper
  
• The tracery 'Self-motivation Cooldown & Power Restore' now correctly improves Self-motivations Power Restore by 10% (it was only improving it by 5% prior to this).
  
• Combustion now benefits from Master of Connotation
  
• Armour of the Graven Word now correctly increases Ceaseless Argument damage, and no longer suggests that it lowers Ceaseless Argument's Power cost.

• Monster Power Use: Monsters with skill power costs were using significantly too much power per skill play. These power costs have been adjusted to a more appropriate scale.

• The Umbari Crafting Daily quests were not bestowing properly for characters that had left and then rejoined a Profession. This has been fixed.
  
• The description for the word 'Luck-stone Socket' has had a typo fixed.
  
• Umbari Guild Earrings of Bright Sea Star as well as its recipe have had their names fixed.
  
• When you leave a profession in which you have achieved access to the Umbar guild you will now only need to level that profession back to Tier 15 to regain access to the Umbar Dailies.
  
• Eastemnet Oaken Mariner's Flute no longer has an extraneous, duplicate recipe output.

• Five new level 143 quests have been added to Lond Cirion. They can be obtained from Lindil, near the entrance in upper Lond Cirion as well as others within the city.
  
• 'Forged Anew' no longer requires you to reforge your Legendary Item to progress. Players who reforged their Legendary Weapon too early or have an old LI are no longer blocked from completing this quest. This fix required the quest to be versioned, so if you had it underway you'll want to pick up the quest again from Dithalion at the Forges of Rivendell.
  
• Forester Event
  
• Carry Caber slow now properly allows players to carry the caber at a walking pace.
  
• Beornings can now use Carry Caber - Fast and Carry Caber - Slow while not in bear form.
  
• Beornings can now use the logger emote. This only functions while not in Bear form.
  
• There is now a message letting players know that there are two minutes before the forester event begins.
  
• Forester event now appropriately states the Combe Lumber Camp.
  
• You should no longer drop the caber before passing through the final gate in the forester event. Unless, of course, you run out of time.
  
• The Posted Notice involved with the quest 'The Isles: The Knight Nauriel' should now display properly on the outskirts of Mar Naphra.
  
• Fixed some assorted typos in Umbar quests involving specific crew members.
  
• U40: Updated the name of the competitive forester trait 4 accomplishment to Competitive Forester IV.
  
• U40: The objective counter should no longer exceed the number needed in Continuous Supply.
  
• "Continuous Supply" and "Burgeoning Business": The counter for tracking crab meat, shells, and claws continued to advance beyond the requirement. This has been fixed.
  
• King's Gondor West -- Added a sound effect for ringing the bell in 'Stalking to Gaerland'.
  
• Completing the Cryptic Note quest will now correctly prevent the Cryptic Note from appearing for you again on the Cape of Umbar.
  
• Revised some text to make it more clear what you need to do to complete two of the Volume II Epilogues (specifying that you need to complete 'The Paths of Caras Galadhon' quest).
  
• Adjusted the Orders From Magith for 'The Valley of Ghosts' so they won't go into Pending Loot where it's easy to overlook them.
  
• Circle of Wrath - Gothmog's Captain was spawning in the wall, but now he won't and can be successfully attacked.
  
• Grami and Belg will no longer fall through the floor at Maergrind, the Noble Gate.
  
• Expanded the Quest Guide area for 'Surely Almost There' in Evendim.
  
• Fixed a typo in the Hytbold quest 'The West Gate: Defenders'
  
• Removed some of the skills that Arifael didn't have corresponding animations for in "The Further Adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Chapter 3".
  
• Adjusted the animations for the boss in "Trouble At The High Crag" so they will display properly.
  
• Reduced the chance that "Mission: Trouble At The High Crag" might become stuck after defeating the boss.
  
• Adjusted the timing for when the boss spawns during the instance "Honour and Treachery".
  
• The honey pot will now display properly during "The Stinging Harvest."
  
• Now the Dourhand allies of Arnmorth the Exacting in the Icereave Mines will attack you no matter your level.
  
• Adjusted "Instance: Whispers of the Forge" to clarify what you're supposed to be doing to progress.
  
• If you're defeated at the Rusted Gate during the Stout-axe introductory experience, you will no longer be stuck in a blackout.
  
• The Elderslade quest "Letter From Léothred" now requires the "Introduction: Elderslade" quest to be at least underway before bestowing. 
  
• Fixed an issue where Léothred did not appear in the "Letter From Léothred" quest.
  
• Pages 1 and 5 for Lost Lore of Gorgoroth: Naerband Prison are now easier to pick up inside "The Dungeons of Naerband",
  
• The daily quest "Claws for Excitement" now has updated directions in the quest comments.
  
• A typo in "A Price to be Paid" has been corrected.
  
• Instances and Skirmishes
  
• Thaurisgar, the Vile Apothecary: Players can no longer be knocked out of the instance by the Thaurisgar Troll Knockback attack.
  
• The Depths of Mâkhda Khorbo
  
• Belondor's Exultation of Battle potency increased.
  
• The likelihood of two crushing tentacles spawning during the "Head-up" phase of the Boss 3 fight in the Raid is reduced on tiers 1-3.
  
• The time that it takes for the next boat to be crushed has been increased to 30 seconds to allow players more time to recover and deal damage to the kraken's head in the final boss fight of the Mâkhda Khorbo,
  
• Small adjustments have been made to the timers on adds that arrive when boats are destroyed or tentacles take too long to kill.
  
• Active tentacles wrapping boats in the final boss encounter of Mâkhda Khorbo are now disabled when the kraken submerges so the head cannot be struck when it is underwater.
  
• Dulgakhó's Hungering Flame can no longer be a scion.
  
• Belondor's chest no longer gives a greater chance at earning his shield, Varnëvëa, from soft-lock chest pulls. The soft-lock chance now matches the chance of receiving the shield from the favoured chest pull.
  
• Corrected the tooltip descriptions on B1 Jadazin's 'Focused Enemy' effects.
  
• In the final encounter with Umshûra on tiers 1-4, Greater Crushing Tentacles were errantly appearing 30 seconds after an emergence phase. We fixed this issue and additional Crushing Tentacles only appear after a boat is destroyed, or when Umshûra returns from being submerged.
  
• The final boss should no longer reset if you leave the room completely and then return to the room after defeating Umshûra.
  
• The skill reset at the outset of Umshûra should no longer reset each time you step outside of the battle arena.
  
• Crushing tentacles on tier 5 should now always spawn 2 at a time.
  
• The billboard for the Foetid wave in the fight against Umshûra is now replicated to the chat field.
  
• Billboards for tentacles crushing boats will cease when there are no more boats to crush.
  
• Corsair adds in tiers 4 and 5 are now more consistent in their appearance after failing to eliminate the slapping tentacles quickly enough.
  
• Shadow Tendrils deal more damage when they are killed.
  
• Fire Arrow now correctly deals much more damage on Tiers 4 and 5.
  
• Players can no longer interrupt Vile Scream or Deep Scream with Fellowship Manoeuvres.
  
• Umshûra's Ancient Hide now reduces Incoming Damage by 130%.
  
• Lesser Crushing Tentacles now die after 45 seconds rather than despawning directly. This prevents players from becoming stuck in the 'grabbed' state if they were incapacitated by a tentacle that despawned.
  
• Players are no longer required to have the Mâkhda Khorbo - Tier 4 deed completed in order to barter Menacing Tentacles for equipment.
  
• The Streets of Râhal Bakh
  
• Entombed in Ichor now has a 5 second immunity grace period after it expires or is removed. This should prevent you from immediately being re-Ichor'd when you are freed while still standing in or adjacent to an Ichor puddle.
  
• Hounding Fear's tooltip no longer has incorrect, extraneous descriptive text.
  
• Rothog may no longer use Heavy Stone, Leaded Stone, or Get Over Here on player pets. (Get Over Here will still affect pets, but they will not be considered when Rothog is evaluating targets to decide whether or not to use this skill)
  
• Ulanor should now correctly use Word of Flame more slowly.

• New Mission: Securing Salvage - Malthak, in Umbar Baharbêl's Bloody Eagle Tavern, has a new Mission available for players levels 20-150. Delvings are also available for this mission.
  
• The Ritual Obelisk in 'Mission: The Bloody Ritual' should now behave properly.

• "The 'Doorbell' housing item has had it's name changed to 'Hanging Bell'"

• Captain trainers will now allow you to barter mithril coins for hobbit herald appearances.
  
• Lore-master trainers will now allow you to barter mithril coins for a small bog-lurker appearance.
  
• The minimum level to use Umbari Greater Athelas Essence has been corrected to level 150.
  
• Fixed an issue where Petrified Essences displayed an incorrect maximum socket level.
  
• Legendary Items now indicate if they are ready to be reforged in the examination tooltip.

• German voice over audio has been added for Rothog and other areas of Corsairs of Umbar where it was missing.
  
• The layout of the Class Traits screen has been adjusted to correct an issue where the German description of the Loremaster traits would be cut off at the bottom of the screen.

• Errant terrain texture issue in the Ettenmoors has been resolved.

• New Travel Destinations have been added in and around Umbar Barharbel: Swain's Guild-hall, The Bloody Eagle Tavern, the Gate of Sorrow and the Fleet-gate, Aradâr Hunter's Expedition Camp (plus a milestone at the camp)
  
• The landmark for the Fleet-watch Tavern in the Fleet-fast of Umbar Baharbêl has been moved to its correct location.
  
• Great River - Parth Celebrant and Atburg now have ambient sound effects.
  
• Misc floating objects have been grounded
  
• Misc z-fighting have been resolved
  
• Misc Physics/Stuck Spot issues have been resolved

• Players may now apply custom names to their Carry-alls. These names will not appear when stored in the Vault.
  
• Store: Open store sessions will now be terminated at character logout to prevent confusion about what character purchases are delivered to
  
• Bill Rosewood and Bert Goldenleaf, Stable-masters in Bree-town, now have consistent appearances.
  
• Removed deprecated Legendary categories from the Auction House.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused female avatar ears to always display flattened against the head as if wearing a helmet.

Here are the release notes for Update 39.2, released on Wednesday, April 17th, 2024.


Instances can no longer award legendary (gold) traceries unless the instance is set to a level cap, and also require players themselves to be at that level cap, or up to 3 levels below it, in order to receive legendary traceries. This means that instances such as The Doom of Caras Gelebrin will henceforth only award incomparable (teal) traceries when the instance is set to level 141-149, but can award legendary traceries when set to level 150. If the instance in question is set to level 150, players present when the chest is opened must be between the levels of 147 and 150 if they want to receive legendary traceries. This is true for any historical level caps as well: you can run instances at level 130, for example, to earn legendary Morgul traceries, but the players present must be levels 127-130.

• The Streets of Râhal Bakh
  
• Khâshap's Chest now has a chance to drop a Legendary tracery on tiers 4-5.
  
• Isle of Storms
  
• Raghârik's Chest now has a chance to drop a Legendary tracery on tiers 3-5.
  
• The Arena Dahâl Huliz
  
• Arena Champion's Chest now has a chance to drop a Legendary tracery on tiers 3-4.
  
• The Depths of Mâkhda Khorbo
  
• Well-worn Corsair's Chest now has a chance to drop a Legendary tracery on tier 3-4.
  
• Forgotten Smuggler's Chest now has a chance to drop a Legendary tracery on tier 2.
  
• Azagath's Sea-shadow and his crew are now more aggressive and responsive to players who enter the arena to face them.
  
• Slapping Tentacles will now throw stones at random players if left alive too long (exact time depends on the instance tier).
  
• Hâkraph's Static Shock is now much more damaging, and will correctly damage players near the Crackling Conduit.
  
• The Arenas of Conflict meta Deed 'Deeds of the Arena of Conflict' will now bestow and complete properly.
  
• The Algraig, Men of Enedwaith, have erected a Task Board in Lhanuch where five new level 60 task quests can be found that award reputation with their faction. These tasks are also available from the Neighborhood Task Boards.
  
• Monsters with skill power costs were using significantly too much power per skill play. These power costs have been adjusted to a more appropriate scale.

• Beorning's Umbari Armour of the Razor Claw (red set) once again restores Wrath over time as intended.
  
• Fixed issues with Beorning's Bond of Trust, Honey Cleanse, and Desperate Shouts, which were not functioning correctly or consistently due to incorrect skill-type flags on many of their skills.
  
• Brawler's Umbari Armour of the Iron Fist's 4-set bonus will no longer proc off of Auto-attacks.
  
• Burglar's Sudden Diversion no longer inappropriately resets the cooldown of Touch and Go.
  
• Captain's Telling Mark should no longer toggle off when its target is temporarily debuffed by a Mariner's Marked Foes effect.
  
• Rune-keeper's Fulgurite and Molten Runestone damage is now correctly classified as Tactical, so it will not bypass Incoming Damage modifiers.
  
• Blackarrow's Explosive Arrow once again deals its intended damage.