The Patch Notes for Update 6’s initial release to the Bullroarer Server have been posted. And it is important to note that as always the notes are in Beta and therefore are missing some sections such as information on the Rune-keeper and Warden class changes. There are however some very interesting things to note.
First off it seems that Skirmish soldiers will only be able to be summoned by use of a “Landscape soldier token”, which is bartered for at Skirmish camps with Marks and Seals. They will also be unavailable within “high-population zones.” What exactly this means is unknown, but there is a future Developer Diary that will be released that will elaborate further upon the issue.
Secondly, the Shores of the Great River is being released. Turbine touts that the region will have 200 quests and that it will be free for VIP’s.
Other interesting points include:
- Virtues have been extended to Rank 14.
- All tiers of stat tomes and the relic removal scroll can now drop from the final bosses in scaled instances.
- Melding recipes for Tier 8 relics, Level 75 relics and Level 75 legendary items have been added.
- Legendary Items level 66 and above have increased relic return from deconstruction if they are advanced to level 31 or higher. The increase is more significant if the item is advanced to level 60 and above.
- New recipes for Level 75 crafted relics are located on the Crafting Guild vendors. The Compendium of Middle Earth, Volume III, can be acquired via a reward for completing the daily repeatable quest “The Forges of Isengard,” given by Bron in Galtrev.
- Worn Symbols of Celebrimbor are now available via Skirmish barter vendors.
- Marks, Medallions, Seals, and Relic Currency are all now bind to account.
- Unique class titles have been added as rewards for the level 15, 30, 45, and 58 class quests. Characters who have previously completed these quests will be rewarded the titles retroactively.
- Lore-masters will have new talismans which will turn their Spirit of Nature Pet into spirits of other animals.
- The Skirmish instance quests (the quest you receive every time you play a Skirmish) will now award gold, reputation, XP and IXP. This quest, unlike the old daily quests, will be awarded every time the Skirmish is completed, and will scale more accurately to the level of the Skirmish. The previous XP bonus on monsters has been reduced to compensate.
- Added a new lock-on camera mode which keeps the camera pointed towards your target. By default this can be engaged using the [X] key, but you can remap it in Options->;Key Mapping->;Camera.
And that’s just to name a few. So what are you excited about with the release of Update 6?
Updated March 2, 2012 to include the Rune-keeper changes
Updated March 3, 2012 to include Reaver changes
March 1, 2012 at 2:19 pm
wow – Runekeepers get pets????? When did that happen? ;p
March 1, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Must be a typo, because the patch notes refer to lore-masters
March 1, 2012 at 5:34 pm
That’s not possible, Merric never makes typos.
March 1, 2012 at 8:13 pm
I don’t make lists either… But if I did, you’d all be on it!!!
March 1, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Very much looking forward to the class-quest titles.
March 1, 2012 at 2:20 pm
There are a lot of great things in the release notes. Bound Marks, Medallions, & Seals is a huge change. Among the ohanges:
- Heritage Runes are now Bound to Account…Item XP runes are bount-to-account? Yes!!!
- Some barter vendors in Lothlórien, Mirkwood and Enedwaith will now allow you to exchange their region’s respective Gold Tokens for Silver Tokens (along with the other way around)…This has been requested since Loth was released and is fantastic.
- The Dunlending Quartermaster now has a Travel to Galtrev skill, available to all players with Kindred standing…A small change with a huge impact – Men of Dunlend is very easy to hit kin=no more milestone use at Galtrev.
From gameplay changes, to changes in reaction to player feedback on store items – U6 seems to be shaping up very nicely.
March 1, 2012 at 2:25 pm
The one-hour-token limitation on Soldier landscape use is a clever solution to issue of having everyone and their brother being followed around all the time with their soldiers. I wonder what kind of cooldown there will be.
I’m also not sure how the bound-to-account marks/medallions/seals are going to work. Presently they go into the Barter Wallet, along with all the other bound-to-character items. Will they no longer be in the Wallet? Or is the Wallet changing in some way that allows transfers out? Could this be the first step of having the Wallet be used for other barter tokens??
March 2, 2012 at 9:09 am
I there will be one wallet only for all your characters bound to your account. So every character has access to the same wallet.
March 1, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Some really good things in here. I actually really liked this one:
“Legendary Items level 66 and above have increased relic return from deconstruction if they are advanced to level 31 or higher. The increase is more significant if the item is advanced to level 60 and above.”
I never understood why it didn’t work that way before, but at least it’s happening.
March 1, 2012 at 2:27 pm
“Rune-keepers will have new talismans which will turn their Spirit of Nature Pet into spirits of other animals.”
They have pets?
March 1, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Supposed to be Loremasters.
March 1, 2012 at 2:27 pm
You said talismens were available for rune keepers but I think you mean Lore master. They have the spirit of nature pet.
March 1, 2012 at 2:35 pm
The pibgorn is fixed – I’d like to get one now and try it out…
And I definitely like to see the continued Lua changes in every release.
March 1, 2012 at 2:53 pm
One of the changes I noticed with U6 is that they updated the graphics for rivers and waterfalls. Now they look FAR more realistic. Also, I can tell the developers have been hard at work on improving landscape design as the Thinglad scenery is fantastic. I’m hoping this is portence of what we can expect in ROR.
March 1, 2012 at 3:09 pm
I hope they slowed down the speed that the water falls. I think it falls way too fast, not giving the higher ones the proper sense of scale.
March 1, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Well, I think I jumped the gun on the whole improved water graphics thing. In looking at the live client, the waterfalls in Lothlorien and the Anduin river appear to have the same look as seen in U 5.2. Sorry, my bad. They’re WAY better than the waterfalls in the some of the SOA regions though (The Shire) but as that’s understandable as its newer content.
March 1, 2012 at 5:54 pm
I know at some point during they switched between those old blue/white texture one to a clear version… you see it in most new areas, but I have been hoping they’d replace the old ones. I remember them being most common in Ered Luin
March 1, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Special titles for class quests could be interesting. I wonder what captains will get for the infamous jumpy puzzle level 30 class quest. i thought of that quest every time I grabbed a data-cron in TOR.
March 1, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Id like a warden related title
, but yea, ive always been more into the useless parts of this game…
March 1, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Wohoo, more account bound stuff for the barter wallet!!
Not to mention the ixp runes being BoA!!! … and relics oooooh!
The UI changes look interesting as well
And then.. and.. too much goodness. Especially considering this is just the first pass of U6 on bullroarer!!!!!!!
March 1, 2012 at 4:10 pm
*squealing and jumping up and down in excitement*
Ahem, looks quite lovely
March 1, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Sorry, dumb noob question but you guys are always so helpful – I have only been on Bullroarer once and that was for the FTP launch and I seem to remember having to enter a kind of lottery to be invited. Is Bullroarer open to all or is it by invite? Do I just need to find the client and download it to play? I have heard you talk about the Isengard tavern before which sounded like a lot of fun since I am a lowly lvl 56 in Eregion and would love to get a sneak peak at the future – is it available? Thanks for the help, excited about the new content though by the time I get to it you all will probably be passing me on the way back from celebrating the fall of Mordor to run Sharkey out of the Shire
March 1, 2012 at 5:37 pm
For smaller content updates such as this one, Bullroarer is open to everyone once it’s opened.
However, it’s used for blosed, invite-only beta testing for major content releases, such as expansions.
March 1, 2012 at 5:37 pm
IIRC, Bullroarer is only available to VIPs. Sort of a perk for subscribing, in addition to being a beta test.
March 1, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Blah, that was supposed to be a reply to Thaillin.
March 2, 2012 at 1:50 am
if your game account isnt banned from live, you can get on to bullroarer during these open testing periods.
March 1, 2012 at 5:51 pm
High population zones will be places like lagtrev, which is fair enough.
If the soldier needs a token then it’ll be more a case of get them out as an extra buff/toy for a particular fight rather than having them tail you around pulling aggro and getting twigs to confound their pathing ai.
March 2, 2012 at 10:00 am
Yeah, I like this move. Seems like a fair compromise.
I was in Annuminas the other day and you can call Orchalwe to help you with a set of quests (and new ones that pop up as you run around the environment, which I LOVE)… but the guy just pulls aggro constantly. It’s even worse being a Captain, when I’m also worrying about my herald. The ability to just walk by groups unnoticed diminished significantly.
I wonder if it can be summoned IN battle? Probably not.
March 1, 2012 at 6:40 pm
I think it’s safe to say that all the store armour stuff has been forgotten by now, but man…I look over this list and all the excitement I had has waned. I’m sure it will be fun, but I’m just going to have to constantly grind deeds, aren’t I?
March 1, 2012 at 7:09 pm
I love the sense of humor the dev who writes the patch notes has.
Known Issue: NPC’s in Evendim have decided they are no longer interested in constantly answering questions and offering services and quests to players. Instead of interacting with you they will simply stare at you with a slight look of displeasure on their faces until you go away. (This is fixed in a newer build, we reminded them they are under contract.)
Too funny. I’m glad they get to have fun a work.
March 1, 2012 at 7:20 pm
There is also a barter wallet uphrade for 995tp which grants ALL barter stuff in your wallet bound to account, from mirkwood and enedwaith stuff to moria medallions and festival barter stuff. Imo a very good thing, well worth the tp so start saving some points now
March 1, 2012 at 7:55 pm
How does bound to account really work? I have some cosmetic items that are listed as bound to account. Does it really mean bound to server or is there a command that pulls in all your bound to account items on a different server?
March 1, 2012 at 7:56 pm
Another quick question. Are the Moria tokens in your wallet? They still show up in my inventory. Did I miss something I was supposed to do when the changed the barter item system?
March 1, 2012 at 8:18 pm
The bound to account items are also unfortunately also bound to the server. The only way to move them would be if you transferred the character off to another server.
For right now Moria Tokens are still an inventory item.
March 2, 2012 at 6:08 am
One Wallet to rule them all, One Wallet to find them,
One Wallet to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
If all my crap in my alts wallets are transferred to a account-wallet, then I will be a very happy dwarf!
March 2, 2012 at 9:57 am
I’m kind of bothered by this being a pay-for item. Not remotely fuming or upset, but bothered. Seems odd.
Is this account wide at least?
March 4, 2012 at 1:26 pm
The 995 TP wallet is much like shared storage: it affects your whole account.
March 1, 2012 at 8:53 pm
A big change (at least for LMs) is the ranged slot item. We’ve been waiting for this for ages.
Also, RK notes are up now, and boy are there a lot of them.
March 2, 2012 at 8:39 am
Thanks Cory, I’ve updated the notes
March 1, 2012 at 11:08 pm
“The value of five ducks is now one pig, however pigs will continue to be worth their weight in gold because you can make bacon out of them!”
March 2, 2012 at 8:39 am
Bacon is king!
March 2, 2012 at 5:07 am
Virtues will be extended to rank 14… meh… still maxxxed out
March 2, 2012 at 8:40 am
I’m jealous
March 2, 2012 at 10:13 am
Me too!
March 2, 2012 at 11:15 am
I know that I’m in the minority, but I am very unhappy about how the soldiers on the landscape is being handled. One hour tokens with a one hour cooldown? It just smells like a gimmick.
I was hoping I’d get to play LotRO in a similar way to SWTOR now, but I guess not.
March 2, 2012 at 11:20 am
Personally I’m glad about that. If ya wanna play it like SWOTR, go play SWOTR. A lot of LOTRO landscape content was designed around solo play, which would make a lot of content ‘easy-mode’ if you’re bringing along a NPC helper with you. This will allow you to use your soldier as much as you want (providing it doesn’t die) but requires you to choose when those moments are based on your supply of marks/medallions.
March 3, 2012 at 12:03 am
And why do you care if some people choose to play on “easy mode”? Seriously, I’m sick of people telling me that I need to play a hard game to enjoy myself.
March 3, 2012 at 7:33 pm
I’ve never considered LOTRO hard. What have I missed? I’ve a LM and Guard over 70…
March 4, 2012 at 11:18 am
You’re proving my point, thanks!
People are complaining that having skirmish soldiers out all the time would make the game “too easy”.
March 3, 2012 at 8:00 am
Maybe the 1 hour CD is too much, but some limit is necessary. They could adjust the timing after the beta e.g to 30min/15min CD or something similar baseed on the feedback.
March 2, 2012 at 1:48 pm
It will really depend on how the hour token actually works.
If it ticks down from the point of purchase then it could potentially despawn mid fight when youve reached the fight you want to use the soldier in.
Best case would be if the time runs down only when the soldier is out. Being a skirm purchase rather than tp one we can but hope.
Without decent pet controls or ai the soldier is going to be more a hinderance than a help for most situations. Even cappy pet controls dont stop it behaving like a muppet.
March 4, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Which is why I have a herbalist. It seems the only soldier doing its job and it stays behind you, so it doesn’t draw aggro easily.
March 6, 2012 at 1:36 am
Personally, I am glad to see RKs being reworked. I love RKs, I like their dps and healing, but they are incredibly limited by attunment and survivability. Hopefully this update will smooth them out.
March 7, 2012 at 6:30 am
I am also heartened by the restriction of the soldiers in crowded areas. It would be lovely if this restriction also applied to other pets. I have a loremaster myself and nothing irks me more than trying to interact with NPCs and having three bears and two eagles blocking everything. Everything not blocked by the idio…ahem enthusiasts sparring in the midst of it all, that is
March 9, 2012 at 1:33 pm
I don’t mind the pets sizes so much, but the horrendous noise the craw makes, it is truly unbearable to me. I either remove my headphones or put the main game volume to zero while around a Lore Master’s crow pet.
March 7, 2012 at 8:25 pm
I’m so happy virtues are being increased to 14. My main is maxed out but cant wait to spend thursday-sunday deeding!
March 9, 2012 at 1:29 pm
I need your deeding guide.
If you are an RK go do these deeds in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…
If you’re a GRD go to these deeds in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…
I frequently find myself traveling in excess while deeding. I can’t seem to find the correct order to complete what I need. But that’s probably just me being lazy again!