(Updated) Server Down Time: Thursday December 10th

Update: Servers will be down until 1:00 PM EST.  Yikes!  However it also looks like Lost in the Fray is being added back into the game.  This was decided after the posting of the patch notes.

Originally Posted by Nianalind

However, it looks like it’s safe to complete the intro as long as you finish all available quests in it. And when they do apply the deed fix, it will be retroactive and you’ll get it.

Correct.
The quest will be reopened tomorrow. The decision to do so was made much later than the publishing of the patch notes. The notes will be updated to reflect the reopening of this quest.
However, please note that awarding the deed completion to those who were unable to complete the chain is not part of tomorrow’s patch. It will be addressed after the New Year.

Update:  It looks like the servers will be down until 12:00PM EST.  Until then, I suggest doing what Doc Holiday recommend, go onto Bullroarer!  This should give you just enough time to participate in the hardware Preview event and become eligible for a prize!

Sapience announced that there will be server down time (for the US only?) on Thursday, December 10 from 7:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST.  So those of you who were hoping for a snow day tomorrow, pray it’s Friday instead!  This update will see a variety of fixes (although not the one affecting tank critical heals) and should include the update for the Lore book!

Overall, it seems like a pretty good fix.  I’m not surprised at all the patching recently, since there was such a major upgrade just a week ago.  Although it can be very annoying and disappointing if you’re planning to play during these times, all games experience this kind of downtime after major releases (and sometimes after minor releases too).  Still no word on the fix for critical defense lowering the rate of critical heals.  Although I’m not in a position to really feel this that much since I’m not doing a lot of skirmishes or dungeon runs, there are a lot of people who are already into the content and it’s hurting quite a bit.  Hopefully we can see something on this soon.

Here are the notes as seen on the lore book:

Gameplay

• Dying in Gath Ulunn will now properly teleport you to a Defeat Circle in Gathburz instead of Durin’s Threshold.
• When trying to reform a fellowship within the Mirkwood Landing instance players would occasionally receive the error message, “You cannot invite another player inside a different public instance.” This should no longer happen.

Skirmishes

• Skirmish: Trouble in Tuckborough is now available!
• Players who have not upgraded their accounts to Siege of Mirkwood may now enjoy 3 skirmishes per day instead of per week.
• Skirmish Soldier Cosmetic traits should now display as intended.
• The default appearances of Soldiers without cosmetic traits have been tweaked slightly. They will now be envious of their finely attired, cosmetically enhanced peers.

Items

• The following cloaks were incorrectly assigned Radiance values. They have been corrected and the Radiance removed.
  • Cloak of the Stronghold
  • Sûl-Linnod
• Many Lore-masters were surprised to see their Dúnedain Staff had been changed into a Rune-stone. It has been changed back into a staff item and will no longer be called a “Dúnedain Rune-stone.”

Loot

• Removed the Sprig of Woolly Mint from the Dol Guldur 6-man & 12-man hard-mode chests.
• Reduced the number of medallions when beating Challenge Mode Sword-hall from 5 to 4
• Increased the number of medallions when beating Medium Mode Dungeons of Dol Guldur from 3 to 6.
• Increased the number of medallions when beating Challenge Mode Dungeons of Dol Guldur from 4 to 8.

Raids & Instances

The Sword Halls of Dol Guldur

• It is no longer possible for players to revive and re-enter the fight once players have triggered the encounter. The gates preventing this behavior will lower in between each boss death and the beginning of successive waves of “trash mobs.” Getting caught between these gates while they are up will cause the instance to reset.
• Chests for “normal” mode boss deaths will now only spawn the first time a boss dies on “normal” mode. Any other kills of the boss in question will no longer spawn a reward chest.

Barad Guldur

• The camera angles for the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur encounter have been adjusted to allow players a better view of the “playing field.” Viewing at greater camera distances without abrupt camera cuts to closer views should now be more possible.

Quests

• Some quests bestowed at the Lone-lands hub at Agamaur would not appear for players who partook in the solo version of the Passage to Agamaur quest. This has been rectified and all 9 quests can be obtained once again.